


Z nation season 2

by Alice_in_Hell



Series: Z nation my way [1]
Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: 10k is so innocent, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dirty Thoughts, Jealousy, M/M, Pictures, Possessive Behavior, Scared 10K, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vasquez bashing, fatherly Doc, jealous 10k, jealous murphy, pervert Murphy, possessive murphy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2018-08-31 08:08:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 43,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8570953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_in_Hell/pseuds/Alice_in_Hell
Summary: season two of z nation but with changes and of course Murphy x 10K, because there ain't enough of that.





	1. The Murphy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, a little slow at the beginning but it gets better.

Murphy's pov  
     "Come on little doggies, I found a new set of digs I think your gonna like." I say to the zombies, I then notice one of them is dragging something and do a double take. "Hey, those are real side of calloways your dragging there, show some respect."

"Hey friend." I hear from behind me and my little posse. I turn to see a man with a cap and tank top on with a shot gun on his back.

"Friend?" I say back trying to figure out his motives.

"Doing a little shopping uh?" He says while swinging his arms up.

"Presidents day sale." I say without thinking. He laughs at this while looking over at the nearest zombie.

"Those zombies of yours are pretty tame." He says with a grin on his face. Anger rises up as the thought of owning them is suggested and before I can stop myself, I speak.

"There not my zombies, I would never own them. Can I help you. . . . friend?" clearly annoyed. His attitude suddenly changes and he pulls his shotgun from his back.

"You can start by stepping aside." He says then before I can do anything, he shoots all four zombies in a quick session.

"What the hell you do that for!?" I ask upset.

"Your Name Murphy?" He asks.

"Nope." I say while shaking my head slightly. He pulls something out of his pocket and presses a button. I hear Citizen Z going off about my description, abilities, and about keeping me alive at all costs.Then man hits stop and looks at me with a frown.

"Sure your not 'the' Murphy? Cause right now that's the only thing keeping you alive. Show me your bites." He says gesturing to my torso with his gun.

"I beg your pardon." I say right back.

"You heard me, lift up your shirt, let me see those bites," He smiles then, "Gotta make sure your the real thing." I then undo the stylish coat I'm wearing and show him the bites. "Those are bite?" He asks looking stupid.

"They were, there healing nicely thank you." sarcasm dripping from my tone. "Okay, so what if I am 'The Murphy', whatever the hell that means, so what?" I say annoyed now. He starts laughing.

"So everyone and there uncles looking for you. Governments puttin a bounty on your ass. Crap, now I'm never gonna get any peace with the others and now mercenaries looking for me.

"I've gotta a whole van of Oxy if that's what you want. Listen, how about he take half and I'll just be on my way?." I ask, wishing for one of 10k's famous at the last moment shots. That boy can really shoot.

"How about I take the Oxy and you to California for that bounty." He say, no doubt starting to get agitated.

"Your gonna take me to California. . . . by yourself?" This guy must be joking, a lot of people have died taking me this far. This guy looks me dead in the eyes, completely serious.

"Dam straight." I suddenly start laughing at the very thought of this puny man getting me there when the military even failed. The man becomes upset and I realize that he was serious.

"Sorry, Sorry. . . . Your insane." I say while trying to stop laughing. Suddenly, the man reaches for something and I quickly see its a taser but He fires it before I can move. After I fall screaming as the shock sears through me, he kneels down below me and looks me in the eyes smirking.

"That's right, I'm insane. Your my prisoner. Don't worry Mr. Murphy, I won't kill you, but I will hurt you real bad if I need to. Do you understand me? Do you. . . " He's eyes suddenly go wide and he falls over and I see a blurry figure who I some what recognize. After a couple of seconds, I see that its Cassandra. I get up quickly while holding my head and look her over.

"Oh, I didn't know if I'd ever see you again." I see while brushing myself off. She starts making a weird noise and then suddenly jumps on me and nearly chokes me. "Yeah, good to see you too. All right come on. Lets break this up. Okay." I say while forcing her off me. She quickly tries to say what I can only assume to be the word bomb. "Bomb, Bomb bad. Yeah. Listen, its not safe here. We need to get out of here, okay?" I then look down at her raggedy clothes in distaste. "First, you need a makeover, girl." I say. After a little while, she comes back out in a gold two piece and a mink coat which looked fabulous on her.

* * *

10k's pov

After Warren somehow got water and we ran into the others, we road into town and see it abandoned like many others. After a couple minutes driving, Addy speaks up. "Oh hey, my Spanish is terrible, but I'm sure this is what they were talking about." Mack then pipes up with another comment.

"I wonder who else heard that broadcast. . .  10 O'clock!" He suddenly says.We look over and Roberta states the obvious, "I see them. Just keep going!"

Right after we pass them, Doc looks over at the woman and says,"Folks are friendly here in Cheyenne."

"Friendly ain't the vibe I'm getting. Lets find Murphy and get the hell out of Dodge." Warren says while looking around. I can't help but slightly flinch although no one seemed to notice. I still feel this odd feeling whenever he's mentioned, it kind of feels like anger but also something else.

"Cheyenne," Doc suddenly says then Warren looks over at him not amused.

"Whatever, okay, we all need to think like Murphy. Get inside his zombified head and I know that's a scary place to be, but where would you hide if you were Murphy."

Well, if I were Murphy where would I go? I suddenly spot something up a head. "Hey, hold on!" I say to Mack how stops in front of the strip club. "You say think like Murphy." I say right before Doc chimes in, "Hell, they might as well have his picture on the sign."

* * *

 

[AN: this is where it really starts to branch off]

Meanwhile

Murphy's pov

I'm just sitting here, waiting for the gang to show up. If I know them, they heard the broadcast and are on there way right now. I'm not worried at all whether or not they'll find me, the kid will know exactly where I'd hide. The only thing I'm worried about is whether or not he'll share this with the others and I'm slightly hoping that he doesn't. Imagine the fun we could have in here. Suddenly, the door opens and light shines into the dark room. I know the kid told the others when the first thing I see is Warren. "Hey guys," I stop to take a drink, "What the hell took you so long?"

"Murphy you son of a bitch." Warren says while glaring at me.

"Yeah, what she said." Doc adds in.

"Now now Roberta, is that any way to talk to an old friend?" I say getting up but am immediately shoved onto the bar counter. I notice the kid move to shove her off me but he then stops himself. The zombies who were just sitting there suddenly come to life. "Hey,hey,hey,hey,hey..." I say and the zombies stop moving. I notice the kid look around with what looks like fear and, something else that I sure he doesn't even realize, fascination, in his eyes, well, I might show him some more if he lets me. I suddenly turn to look at Warren who is looking straight at me. "That hurt."

"Oh, I'm just getting started." I'm about to make another comment when Doc suddenly pipes up.

"Now come on chief, Hey, don't forget the mission. Come on," He says then Warren lets go.

"You damn near got us killed and you did kill millions of other people." She says.

"Didn't you get the memo? The apocalypse means never having to say your sorry. I was just following the prime directive of this mission, save Murphy's ass." I say then turn to and start walking off with them following me. "Lets not forget., if I die, party's over for the human race. If you want to blame somebody, blame that nut job Doctor Kurtz or your little buddy, Citizen Z."

Suddenly Mack pipes up, "Maybe we should tie you up for your own good" while walking towards me, but stops when Cassandra runs up in front of him.

The kids eyes shoot up and then he looks at me with curiosity then back at her. "Your alive?" he says while Mack hugs her. She then starts hissing until he lets go.

Addy suddenly speaks out, "I'm sorry. What is she wearing? Is that mildly impractical for the apocalypse?"

I feel slightly insulted by this, "You try dressing a classy lady in Cheyenne, Wyoming." Doc suddenly blurts out about how the Z's are around.

I reassure them, "Don't worry, there friendly as long as I'm friendly."

"Come on Murphy, we got to get you to California." Warren says while taking a step towards me.

"Yeah, about California, after all the nukes and stuff, I'm not so sure I'm down with the whole saving humanity thing. I'm not so sure humanity is worth saving.

"Your going to California." Warren threatens. I feel myself starting to get angry.

"You don't even know if California is still there!"

Of course after I say that, Doc has to put his two sense in. "Well look, if you won't do it for humanity, do it for yourself Murphy. You need that vaccine more than anybody, have you looked in the mirror lately? You may be styling, but your turning zombie, brother." I can't help but snap as soon as he's done.

"Brother . . . . Maybe there are worse things than being zombie. Maybe being a starving," I look at Doc, "fearful," I then look over at Addy and Mack, "violent" I then peer over at Warren, "vindictive" and last, my eyes land on the kid. "human is worse. But hey! It's the apocalypse, let's have some fun. Let me show you what I've been working on." I start walking off. "Come on, grab a seat. You're gonna love this." I look back to see that none off them have moved. "The apocalypse will still be waiting for us when we're done. Cassandra!" I shout for her to turn on the lights.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Ah, so nice to see so many familiar faces in the audience tonight." I say while noticing that the kid goes to try some of the liquor, but Addy takes it away. Shame, I would of loved to see the kid drunk. "Ladies and gentlemen, lets hear it for the one, the only, Chantrelle." I run off the stage and put the music on.

She walks onto stage and Addy pipes up. "Oh. . . . my. . .  god."

Doc speaks up too. "Well I hope she ain't working for tips." I peer over at the kid and he seems to be in shock and Addy seems to notice too.

"Whoa, I'm having a deja vu." Doc says before he takes a sip of his drink.

Warren of course has to ruin the fun. "Murphy."

"I know, right?  wait. It gets better." I say back, she just looks at me in disbelieve. Chantrelle starts going faster and faster around the pole. She suddenly shoots off the pole without her arm. "Ta-da!" I yell as I jump on stage. "I know, I know. The finale needs a little work, but hey, let's hear it for Chantrelle!" I say while tipping my hat and laughing. "Oh, come on!" I say as I realize that no one else is laughing.

Just as I'm about to say something else, we all hear a slow clap. I turn to see a man coming in through the streamers on the door. "Is this a private show or can anybody watch?" The man says and the others move to pull out there guns but the man moves faster and points his gun at the kid. "Ah. . ah. . .ah, leave your weapons right where they are. Don't make me have to shoot anybody" he says while looking the kid in the eyes. "There's enough zombies in this world already."

"What do you want." I ask, though I think I already know the answer.

"Your name wouldn't happen to be Murphy, would it?" The stranger asks. Yep, I was right. After a couple of seconds I reply. "Nope."

"Lot of people looking for you, Mr. Murphy." He says not believing me.

"That so?" I say as a challenge.

Warren then walks up. "This man. . . . He's our prisoner." I notice that the kid gives her a 'really' look mumble something about loosing me too often.

The man seems to be agitated at this. "Well, he's my prisoner now."

Doc then joins Warren. "Uh no. Sorry. She's right. We got dibs on him.

"Yeah, And we're taking him to California." Addy says as she joins the others.

"No, your not. He's coming with me." I feel agitated as they talk as if I'm something to be owned.

"Where?" I ask.

"To the highest bidder. CDC in California aren't the only ones willing to pay for his blood." I snap at this.

"Why does everybody always talk about me like I am not standing right here? You know there's only one problem with all of your plans for The Murphy. I ain't going anywhere with any of you. Hit it!" I say gesturing at Cassandra. She hits the music and lights button and the zombies wake up. As I run off I notice the kid slip by the Z's and starts running after me and Cassandra. 

AN: So how was that? Should I continue?


	2. White light

**10K'S POV**

I notice that once the zombies come to life, Murphy runs off with Cassandra not far behind. I run after them but then hear Addy and Mack yelling for Warren. I run over to where they are to see a Z has her pinned to the wall and I quickly grab the fire extinguisher, "Look out!" I yell while running over to her, then impaling the Z with the hose. I pull the pin and watch the Z slowly get bigger and bigger until it exploded, getting all over us.

We then all run outside and quickly start wiping ourselves off, "What do we do now, Chief?" Doc asks Warren.

"I made a promise to a little girl and I'm gonna keep it. We are going to find Murphy, get him to California, and there going to make a vaccine and save the world." Warren says while checking her gun, "And I'm gonna kill any bounty hunter that gets in my way." She says while pointing her pistol.

"Sounds like a plan" Addy adds in.

"Any idea where Murphy went?" and just as I ask this, we all turn to the noise of tires screeching.

"He went that way." Warren says.

We start chasing after him and we see the guy from earlier right behind him. We heard gunshots, instantly taking cover and see that the man from before shooting at this van with men in it. We watch him shoot them dead, only for him to run off. "Okay, its like that then." Warren whispers just before a four wheeler passes by.

Another car drives by behind us and its the woman from when we first got into town. She cocks her shotgun and starts firing. "Look out!" Mack shouts as the others move to the other side of the car.

I run off and hear Doc yelling at me, "Look out kid!" right as I hear a bullet hit the wall I was next too.

After another shot rang out, I look over at Warren, "10k! Murphy!" she yells at me. I nod before looking around to make sure the coast was clear before running in the direction Murphy did.

* * *

 

**Warren's pov**

After sending 10k to go find Murphy, Addy yells "Ugh! What the hell is going on!?"

Doc adds in after this, "It's a damn Murphy free for all!". We then hear the woman cock her gun again before Doc notices one of the men who were shot came back a Z. "I think it's time we need to...."

I don't let him finish before I yell, "Time to go!" as I run for cover. As we're running, the car we were hiding behind explodes, which only made us run faster.

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

I'm running and all I can hear is yelling and gunfire. I stop and hide behind a fence when I see a van drive by, waiting until the van is out of sight, I begin running again. I then run into the guy from earlier and he has his gun pointed at me. I quickly run into the backyard of the nearby house and I can hear the man not far behind. I quickly hop then fence and continue running and after a couple of minutes, these zombies start running with me. "Shoo, shoo! Go home!" I yell at them as they continue to follow me, then they suddenly turn and go after the man.

I find myself in the street again and hide behind a truck, looking around and seeing if anyone else followed me. I peer over and see two men shooting at something and on the other side of me, a zombie starts running towards me. "Cut me some slack!" I whisper, hoping that the Z listens. The zombie suddenly falls just as I see a bullet go through his skull, then I see that woman from earlier drive by.

She gets out of the car and I slowly walk towards her."Excuse me, ma'am? I was wondering if I may be able to catch a ride with y-... I suddenly stop as she points the shotgun at me, shooting me with what seems to be a beanbag. It takes the air out of my lungs and I can't breathe and I find my self now on the ground. As I'm gasping for air, I can hear her getting closer and I can't help but freeze. I then see Cassandra come out from no where and jump on the woman, biting into her throat. As the woman slowly stops struggling, I get up and start walking towards her but then I am suddenly tackled by someone.

I start yelling at them before I see who it is "Ow, Ow! Stupid jerk!" As I start getting up, I see that it was the kid who had got me, damn, that kid could have been in football! As he starts getting the rope ready to tie me, he looks over the truck and his expression completely changes into one of fear. I then see a man with a rocket launcher aiming at us. The kid starts backing away but the man fires, nearly hitting the kid.

The kid dives out of the way and hits the ground hard. The man starts running away as the zombies start chasing him, but the damage is already done. I run to the kid and see he's barely conscious. I quickly check him and to my relief, he is relatively unharmed. I pick him up and start running for it with Cassandra by my side. That man is gonna pay for hurting the kid! No one hurts him unless I say so! The kid then falls unconscious

* * *

 

**Doc's pov**

I really hope the kids okay. We heard the explosion and when we got there, we saw the kid on the ground next to a hole in the wall, with Murphy squatting next to him, after that Murphy picks up 10k and run off with Cassandra. Murphy better not hurt him! "Why the hell is everybody shooting at everybody!?"Addy screams while reloading

"Cuz Murphy's the golden goose!" Warren grunts while taking cover. "We're sitting ducks here, we're gonna have to split up into groups and keep moving. Doc, you follow 10k and Murphy," Warren says to me and I nod, she then looks at Addy and Mack, " Mack and Addy, you guys take the west side, we'll flush him out." She then starts reloading.

"What about the bounty hunters?" I ask while looking around.

"Kill them too!" She responds while cocking her gun. "On my call, we'll cover you." She then says to me and I get ready to run.

"Three. . . .two. . . . .one, go!" She yells and we all split up.

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

"You guys are killing me!" I yell at the Z's who are following me. I quickly stop and look around, "This way" I say to Cassandra while running toward the hotel. With the zombies still following me, I enter the building and set 10k down on. I turn to the group following me, "You guys ever consider how annoying this might be?" I ask while standing close the kid. "I mean seriously! It's like a guy can't ever think." I say to them but they just stand there snarling. "I appreciate it, I do. But this is my dance space. . " I say gesturing to the area around me,  " . . . and this is your dance space." I say while gesturing to the area near them. "A little me time, thats all I'm asking." I say while looking away. I then look back and see one of the Z's sort of looks like me. "Well." I say as I walk up to him. "Hello handsome." I say. Cassandra suddenly tries to say something but I can't tell what it is.

"B-B. . .u..e."I then realize that she is trying to say boy. I turn to see that the kid is gone and a nearby window is now open. He must have woken up and saw the Z's and panicked.

* * *

 

**Doc's pov**

I saw 10k hiding behind a car just outside the hotel and after about a minute of yelling, I realize he's deaf due to the blast.  I signal him and he notices me and after about two minutes of signalling, he's right next to me. Just as I ask if he can hear anything I'm saying, a bullet comes out of nowhere and shatters the car window we're under. "Jesus! This is ridiculous!" What the hell are we doing here? That's a rhetorical question. All right, ready? I'll cover, you run. One. . . Two. .. .Three! GO!" I yell while counting on my figures to show him. Just as we go, another shot nearly hits us. "Damn! Someone's got us pinned!"

I see the kid hold up a hub cap and it gets shot almost immediately, "Sniper"

"Great,"  I respond. After the kid tells me where he is and I sneak up there, I get in a near death experience and after that, Murphy comes out from the closet and runs, so you now, like every other day.

"What happened, are you okay?" 10k rushes in and kneels next to me.

"Murphy, he's here." I say still trying to catch my breathe.

"I know" the kid responds.

* * *

 

**Later**

**Murphy's pov**

 After jumping off the roof and landing in a pool of zombies, I made it too a garage and start the car. I then see Cassandra, "Get in!" I yell but just then the window is broken by a very pissed off Addy, who then pulls me out of the car and headbutts me.

Just as Cassandra is about to jump on Addy, Addy's pulled off me by 10K, "Hey, hey! That's enough!" he say while trying to calm her down. The others including the man from the strip club arrive then and help him with her. After an intense stare down, she walks off without saying what happened to Mack, though we can all guess. While Doc ties me up and puts me in the van, the others discuss where to go. After we are all in the van, we start driving south.


	3. Zombie road

**Warren's pov**

"We going the wrong direction, again." Murphy complains again for the hundredth time.

"You left us no choice, too much fallout in the west." I respond, the exhaustion in my voice clear after having to walk for so long.

"Again, that was not my fault." Murphy says slightly irritated.

"Murphy, don't make me have to explain the term 'fail safe doomsday weapon' again. Please." Doc says while turning to Murphy. Murphy suddenly changes the subject to California, again.

"How do you even know California is still there?" He says still pouting like a four year old.

"You're looking ripe. You better hope its still there. Move." Vasquez says suddenly from behind Murphy and then shoves Murphy. I notice 10k slightly move to get between them, but then stops himself. Weird, I thought 10k didn't like Murphy, so why would he almost protect him? After the shove, Murphy quickly turns around and looks Vasquez dead in the eyes.

"You are not the boss of me." Murphy says still glaring at him, then he swiftly looks at me. "She is. . . " I then realize that Murphy is trying to start a fight, so I intervene.

I get in between the two men, "I can handle this. . " I say to Vasquez and then turn to Murphy, shoving him backwards. "Move..." I say in a calm but stern voice.

"Gladly" Murphy says after a few seconds of a three way staring contest. I look over at Vasquez while Murphy starts moving again.

"You'll get used to him." I say leaning over to him. The group starts moving again and as we do, we see smoke coming from nearby. "10k, let me see your scope." I ask him with my hand out as he's standing by me. He hands it over and I look through it to see some kind of vehicle on fire. "Oh, looky here." I say to the others. 10k goes over to where Doc is and starts talking to him while Vasquez and Addy walk over to me.

"What are we gonna do about her?" Vasquez asks while looking over at Murphy and Cassandra.

"Cassandra?" I ask to make sure that's who he meant.

Addy suddenly pipes up, "She's not Cassandra. Not anymore." I look away from the scope and see Cassandra massaging Murphy's shoulders.

"Maybe there's a way back for her, when we get to California." I say, trying to be reassuring.

"Maybe" Addy says while looking down at the ground. 

* * *

  **Murphy's pov**

After a couple of minutes, Warren sees a giant semi drives by and it seems to have a ram and weapons on it. "Is that some kind of post apocalyptic wagon train?" Doc asks.

"Well it ain't the 3:10 to Yuma." Warren says back while still looking through the kids scope. We suddenly hear gunfire bouncing off the truck. "Don't get out of the truck." Warren says, as if they can hear her.

Addy seems to think she needed to state the obvious, "It's gonna be a slaughter."

"Can't expect to travel through a valley without an ambush. Ain't nobody ever watch westerns growing up?" I joke, and then I see the kid roll his eyes but with slight smile on his face.

"Roy, Clark, your with me, get the hell out of my road!" We here the driver the main truck shout as he lifts a shotgun at the shooters. "He's coming around! Watch your back! Here he comes." We hear the driver yelling again at the others. "There he goes, there he goes! Pull back!" He shouts for the third time.

"Looks like they're holding them off for now." Doc says while we watch this gun fight go on.

"Not bad for a bunch of sitting ducks." Warren chuckles.

Doc then leans over and looks again, "Well, you think we should, I dunno, help them?" Right as Warren is about to respond, the asshole from earlier, Vasquez, I think his name was, puts a hand on the barrel of the gun and lowers it.

"Think less like a missionary and more like a mercenary. Lets wait and steal the vehicles from the victor." He says while looking at Warren.

Warren then looks up from the gun and looks him dead in the eyes, "We may not be able to save the world, but maybe we can save them." She says while handing the gun back to the kid. "10k and Vasquez, that way. Addy, you're with me. Doc, you watch him and her." They then leave and we watch the fire fight. The kid is doing pretty well and just shot one of the four wheeler riders. Right after that I start hearing weird static noises that cause me to stand up and look around. suddenly, I see a weird almost completely white zombie and part of his head is all burned and black and is crouched next to a bush that has no leaves. He seems to be far away.

* * *

  **Warrens pov**

Addy and I are walking up to the last part of the truck to make sure its safe, but then we see all these sick people who look a little worse for wear. "I'll get this." Addy says while walking closer. I pat her on the back and keep going towards the front. I then walk towards the driver to see where they're heading.

"On your toes people! They'll be back!" I hear the driver say as I reach him. He then gets down from the truck and walks up to me, extending his arm for a handshake. "Sam Custer." He says while introducing himself.

"Roberta Warren" I say while taking his hand.

"Your timing is what we might call fortuitous." He thanks us.

"Sometimes things work out." I respond. I'm about to ask where they're going but he beats me to it.

"We were on our way to Edmonton, trying to outrun the fallout. How 'bout you?" He says.

"Headed East too." I respond simply. "This is quite a setup you got here." I finish after looking at the truck again.

"Yes ma'am. Well pre-Z, I used to run long haul. Diesel's easier to get these days." Sam says while lowering his gun more. He then suddenly points over to the nearby Charger. "My son and I rebuilt the Charger from the ground up," He says then starts walking away, wanting us to follow, "The Comet, I used to drive to high school my senior year. My son and I were gonna rebuild that '49 Willis Jeep. But this is my retirement now. The refugees have shelter and we carry what we need when we find it." Vasquez suddenly pulls out his gun while a odd man walks up to us.

"Hey, you are one bad ass lady. You.....You....You were like....BOOM! Just stone cold kill-ah!" he stutters. Sam suddenly looks over at us as the man walks off.

"Call him Wrecking Ball, he's my sister's boy. Cheese slid off that cracker a long time ago and he fits in pretty well these days though." 

"Whats in Edmonton?" Vasquez asks right afterwards.

"Peace, tranquility." Sam responds as he pulls a post card. "And freezing temperatures. Zombies hate the cold. We're gonna be safe there, all of us. Together." He finishes as he looks down at the card.

Something here is bugging me and I ask, "What about them?" referring to the medic cart.

"There dying," Sam answers bluntly. "Radiation, my uh.  .  . job is to get everyone to Edmonton. Now you're welcome to come along with use. You're not gonna get far out here on foot and to be honest with you, we could use the fire power."

* * *

 

**10k's pov**

"You guys need anymore water?" the girl asks Doc and I. Doc shakes his head no but I take her up on the offer.

"Thank you."

"You're a hero kid." Doc says while looking at me, though I just ignore him. After that, this guy in a large red jacket walks up to us and looks over at Doc.

"You know you can have soup. You know you just add water." he says while gesturing to the mushroom soup Doc's eating right out of the can.

"Cream of shrooms, dude. Water just dilutes the flavor." Doc responds then takes another bite.

The man walks over to me next, "You sure you don't want some?" He asks while passing a bottle between his hands.

"I had minestrone loaf for breakfast." After my responds, the man starts walking over to Murphy and sits down next to him. Immediately after he sits down, Murphy moves away from him, not even trying to be nice.

"Hydration?" The man offers Murphy the water bottle. Murphy waves him off but he won't stop waving the bottle.

"Is there somewhere else you can sit?" Murphy snaps after a couple of seconds.

"Yep" the man says as of used to it. He gets up and starts walking off. After a little bit, our group steps off to the side and plans what to do next.

"Kill 'em all and take their stuff, I already know what you think." Warren says to Vasquez as he's about to say something. He just shrugs his shoulders and nods in agreement.

"We got strength in numbers. Food, water, shelter." Addy adds in afterwards. "It certainly beats walking but-" Addy continues only to be interrupted by Warren, "But what?" She asks looking over at Addy.

"The sick, I highly doubt they're gonna make it to where ever it is that they're going." Addy responds looking at all of us.

"Edmonton." Vasquez tells her.

Warren seems to catch on to what Addy's saying, "That medical wagon is a zombie bomb waiting to go off."

After the group meeting, we flip over another car in order to get in out of the way. We start walking back to the truck but stop as we hear a frackin [1] zombie coming our way. I quickly pull out me rifle but by the time I have it ready, its already gone. I slowly walk through the open barrier and the men close it behind me. Sam seems to be telling the group something, "Three days ago we tangled with some bounty hunters." He says while looking at the group.

"Bounty hunters, huh?" Murphy asks.

"We don't want to kill you,' they said. 'We're just thirsty' they said but I think they were out of there minds. They kept rambling on about some half-zombie half-man with telekinetic powers. Like a world overrun with zombies isn't strange enough." Sam says without noticing that everyone from our group gives a quick look over at Murphy.

"Yeah those. . . those crazy rumors." Doc says still not looking up at Sam.

"Lets get on the road. Saddle up! Edmonton awaits!" Sam yells. As people start walking off, the man in the red coat walks up to Murphy and Doc and looks at Murphy.

"Those guys were nuts. Being able to control zombies with your mind. I mean how bad ass would that be." The man says unknowingly increasing Murphy's already huge ego. As they start walking away, they continue that conversation.

"Um....Supremely bad ass." Murphy says to the man.

"Oh he's a bad ass. You know I hear he can levitate." Doc adds in, these guys are ridicules.

"Ooh, levitate?" the man asks in awe.

Doc confirms it and the man stops, "You guys wanna levitate, I got what you need. Z weed."

This instantly catches Doc's attention and makes him turn to the man. "Z weed?"

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

   "Wow Wrecking Ball, color me impressed." Doc says while I take another drag, "You know what? I got stoned with a zombie once." Wrecking Ball looks over at Doc. "Yeah. I swear he caught a buzz too. Where'd you say you got this?" Doc asks.

"I heard they grow it in this abandoned agro lab in Minneapolis. They use zombies for compost." He says, this is giving me an Idea.

"No way!" Doc laughs as Wrecking Ball continues, "Z weed" Doc starts laughing again as he now gets the name. "What? Great idea." 

"That's the story as told to me. I heard they're working on an herbal zombie cure, too." Great, there's another lab.

"A lab in Minneapolis, huh?" I ask. Suddenly there's a loud knock on the windows.

"Jesus!" Doc jumps. "All right, hey, Just be cool. I got this." Wrecking Ball says to us, shushing us as he lowers the window. 

"What seems to be the problem, officer?" We laugh at this but Sam doesn't seem to find this as funny as we do.

"Lets go, lets go." He says, ushering us out of the car. Me and Doc get out of the other side so we're not apart of this.

"All right dad!" I say while getting out.

"Look at me. Right here. A jet airliner departs Toronto, headed for O'hare." He says to Wrecking Ball. I knock on the roof of the car to get his attention.

"Excuse me, stewardess? Will there be snack service on this flight?" I say, then me and Doc start laughing.

"105 passengers on board, 20 of them in first class. The plane develops catastrophic engine trouble, the pilot puts it down in Lake Erie. The wreckage straddles the international border. Now, according to maritime law how many of the survivors get buried in Canada? Go!" Sam says.

"Okay, there's.....there's 150 passengers, there's 20 in first class." Wrecking Ball stutters than suddenly goes silent. "Wait...you don't bury survivors." he says while looking smug. Sam turns around and walks away but not before pointing at me.

"You! Look at me, you don't look right to me."

"I don't know how I look, but I feel pretty good." Doc says leaning over to me and we both start laughing.

"You friend is gonna have to ride in the medical wagon with the sick" Sam says, not looking amused.

"Whoa, whoa, what? I don't even get a riddle?" I ask.

"We can afford compassion for the ill only because we have rules. That gonna be a problem?" Sam asks looking towards me. I notice Warren giving me the 'say anything and you'll regret it' look, as if I would. I then get an idea.

"It won't be as long as the kid stays in there with me instead of Addy." I say looking over at 10k whose head whipped over at us as I say this. Warren looks over at 10k with a pleading look and after a minute, the kid nods.

"No. Not a problem." She says to Sam.

"Will there be snacks?" I ask again.

"Munchies!" Doc says joining in as we start laughing again. After Doc and the kid switch places and 10k gets on the medic wagon then turns to help me on.

The truck starts moving, "Wagon train, ho!" We hear Sam shout from the front.

A little ways into the ride, we pass Cassandra and she starts running to the truck, "Come on girl, this train is leaving the station." I say while looking at her. The kid then walks over to me and looks too, only to see her stumble and fall to the ground. After she gets up and starts catching up with us, I reach out to grab her hand but miss by only a few inches After anther try but fail, I finally grab it. The kid then helps me pull her up onto the cart. We then sit down and turn to the others, "Everyone, this is Cassandra. Cassandra, this is. . .  uh, whatever." I finish as I realize they're all out of it. "She's shy" I say when she looks away from everyone. We're on the move when suddenly, we hear Vasquez yell blasters. The kid stands up and look through the scope of his gun. He then shoots it one the first try and up from his scope.

"Three thousand, ninety eight."He says while lowering the gun.

"Your one hell of a shot." I say, clearly surprising him due to the way he jumped. He sits down and looks over at me, but then looks down at the joint of Z weed I'm currently smoking. He looks up at me with curiosity in his eyes then back down at the joint. There's no way he hasn't seen a joint before, but then again he has also never seen porn so I guess its possible. I quickly move over to him and as he turns to me, I exhale it into his mouth.

After a couple seconds he seems a little dazed, "Wow." He says while looking up at me in awe. We do this a few more times and the kid is now high, Afterwards, we start getting shot at and another four wheel comes up to us. The kid looks over at the driver of the four wheeler and just kinda laughs at them.

"Everyone wants a piece of the Murphy." I say to him and he starts laughing again. One of the guys on the truck suddenly gets shot in the head by one of the four wheeler guys and goes down. Both of the four Wheeler's pass us and go for Doc and Wrecking Ball, after that the truck slows down. The static from earlier comes back and its louder. I stand up to see if I can see anything and suddenly jump off. The kid instantly follows me and I run up to Doc.

"Doc, Doc! We need to not be here!" I say completely panicked. 

"Yeah? Well I'm fine Murphy, thanks for asking." Doc says agitated.

"My clavicle look alright to you?" Wrecking Ball asks him.

I suddenly hear something, "Nobody move." I say while standing completely still. They turn to see a group of Blasters snarling at them.

"Dammit, I don't want to die by the roadside in the dirt with a jacked up clavicle." Wrecking Ball says while him and Doc shoot up.

"Doc, fat guy. Don't freaking move." I say getting in front of them. I try to get into there minds but its not working. "Crap." I say when I realize there about to attack.

"I'm gonna start the truck." 10k says while slowly moving towards the car.

"I think that one's mad at you Murphy." Doc says when on of the blasters turn there head to me.

"Back to the truck. Back to the truck. Everybody back to the freaking truck!" I yell, ushering them to be quick. They get the idiot with the gun because instead of listening to me, he decided to shoot at them instead of run. Just as we get to the truck, the kid starts it and we shoot off. We catch up with the others and Warren opens the front door to talk to the kid.

"Those blaster things, they totally jammed Murphy. He hay-wired, nobody here is safe," I hear the kid say to her.

"We'll be rolling directly"

* * *

 

**10k's pov**

After the whole medical turning into Z's, Murphy driving off, and the rest of us having to jump off a speeding truck, I say this day was eventful. Warren walks up to us to see if we're alright, "I've never jumped from a moving vehicle my whole life and now boom! Twice in one day."Doc says while dusting himself off and then we suddenly hear the trunks horn go off. Then after the truck explodes and Warren makes a riddle, we drive off towards Minneapolis to go find Murphy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] - anyone remember this saying?


	4. Batch 47

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fatherly Doc a head!!!

**Murphy's pov**

I arrive at the Minneapolis lab and found this man in a lab coat talking to a group of survivors, "You all came here because you have hope. Hope for a cure, hope for a tomorrow." He says then takes a drag from a thing he's carrying. "But hope has a price and for some of you, that price will be your lives. But without hope, what do we have to live for anyway? And for the one who succeeds, there is a promise of life. Not just for himself, but for all of humanity. Somewhere in that greenhouse is the hope we all came here for. Batch 47. The herbal vaccine against the zombie virus." The man finishes with a another drag.

"It's a suicide mission," A man from the crowd suddenly says. "I mean, where's your proof?" He continues with a shrug.

"Proof? The proof's all around you! For years Batch 47 has been hidden away, lost to the world until  _I_ discovered the evidence that a cure exists." The man in the lab coat argues. "All you have to do is go in there and harvest a few seedpods. Now who here has what it takes?" He finishes, gesturing to the greenhouse then offering a hedge trimmer. The crowd rush to him, all trying to grab it. "Whoa, don't worry. It's a big greenhouse.You're all gonna get your chance." He says, trying to calm them down.

"Maybe we don't need to go to California after all." I say while looking over at the man. I later walk into the main lab and am immediately stopped by one of the guards. ""I need to talk to your boss." I say trying to get around him.

"No you don't, you need to go wait in the garage with the other harvesters." He argues with me trying to shove me back.

"Oh, he's gonna want to hear what I have to say." I say while walking towards the man again. The guard quickly pulls his gun out at me and looks me in the eyes, ready to fire.

"Whats wrong with her?" He asks looking over at Cassandra, who had growled at the man.

"Not a damn thing!" I say, starting to get agitated.

"If you're here for Z weed, we're closed for retail sale, come back tomorrow." The man in the lab coat says while turning to face me.

"I don't want Z weed, although she might." I say, gesturing to Cassandra, who is now grunting. "I have a proposition you're gonna want to hear." I continue while now looking at the man in the lab coat instead of the guard. The man lowers the thing he's smoking from and looks at me.

"You got two minutes." He says while the guard slowly lowers his gun.

I walk up to the table nearby with the zombie heads on it, "Interesting conversation piece." I say.

"Test subjects." The man counters. I notice that Cassandra has now left my side and is now interested in a twitching hand on the table.

"What is this?" I ask the man. We start walking over to where Cassandra is as he gives me my answer.

"It's a phyto-zombie. Part zombie, part plant." He says while looking at me. I reach down at the hand with my finger and it's finger starts moving as well. I can tell the man is instantly amazed by this.

"How do you do that?" He asks while taking another smoke.

"It's a gift." I simply respond, still moving the hand. "Perhaps you've heard of me? May I?" I ask.

"Sure." The man says looking a bit unsure. I walk over to the heads and raise the glass off of one that keeps trying to bite something. I reach out and put my hand on its cheek and it instantly calms down.  I turn to see the man in absolute shock. "You're the Murphy." The man finally gets it after a few more minutes. I quickly shush him.

"That's our secret." I say to him.

"Okay. If you're the Murphy, let's see the bites." He says while pointing his pen at me.

"Oh ye of little faith." I say while unbuttoning my shirt. The man looks down at me chest and sees the scars, his mouth agape.

"I thought you were a myth. A post apocalyptic rumor. You know, like a zombie big foot." He says quickly.

"Oh I'm real." I say while fixing my shirt and walking towards him. "The question is, how real is Batch 47?" I ask while looking at him dead in the eye.

"Oh, its proven effective." The man says quickly before he shoots of towards another table. "Double blind experiments on human subjects. They wrote it all down in their lab records." He says while looking through a ton of papers. "Yeah, subjects receiving Batch 47 remain symptom free of the HZ1 virus after direct infection by a zombie bite." He says while getting excited.

"Well so what happened to them? The test subjects?" I ask. The man instantly frowns at this, "It doesn't say. I imagine they were all killed when this place was overrun during Black Summer." He says.

"Well, what about side affects?" I ask quickly, noting that he avoided the subject.

"Those records are lost." He says as if it's no big deal. I can't help but roll my eyes at this, because of course it wouldn't be that simple. "Look, anything short of turning into a zombie is good, no?" He asks then looks over at Cassandra, who is now crouched on top of a table and is sniffing plants.

"Don't be so sure about that." I say looking over at her too.

"I know its in there, I know it." The man says looking back at me. "I just got to find somebody to go in there and get it." He says. We suddenly hear growling and screaming and go out there to see one of the new people being eaten by a zombie right inside the greenhouse. The Doctor walks over to the now turning man and gestures for the guard to fire, instantly killing the Z. "Okay, that fresh kill is gonna trigger s growth spurt." The Doctor says as if nothing had happened. "Lets go, Harvesters, you're up." He says while handing a woman the hard hat from the newly killed man.

"If I don't make it, tell my baby her mama loves her." The woman says to him.

"You'll be the one. I can feel it. Now go on" The doctor says back to her while patting her back. We then watch the woman slowly walk into the greenhouse, then some guys drag the body away. 

* * *

  **10k's pov**

"You guys harvesters here looking for the cure?" a man asks us at the gate to the labs.

"Yeah, that's right." Warren lies to the man.

"You're armed." The man states.

Addy looks back at us then turns to the man, "Uh, yeah."

"Good." The man says while opening the gates.

"Harvesters wait in the garage until you're called. The others inside will give you the rundown." He says as we walk in.

We stop a little ways in and huddle, "You think Murphy's here?" Addy asks.

"Yeah, he's here. I can smell him." Warren responds while nodding.

Doc suddenly leans in to the group, "I think you're smelling the Z weed." He says while taking a big sniff. We then see men loading up trucks of what we can guess is the Z weed.

"Help me! Get it off!" We suddenly hear from further into the labs. We then see a woman just outside of one of the greenhouses, crawling to get away. "Somebody help!" She screams again. We run over to her and Vasquez quickly shoots the Z in the head, saving the woman."Get it off me, get it off me, get it off me!" She says quickly trying to get away. The shoot only seemed to have dazed it and it continues to grab her. Vasquez grabs the odd weapon the woman had and starts hitting the arm, making it let go. we drag the woman away from the greenhouse and Vasquez hits the Z in the head, finally killing it. We hear two guards quickly approaching us and they look upset.

"Hey! Told you people to move into the garage where its safe."He says, stopping in front of us.

"Safety first, huh?" Doc retorts back while trying to catch his breath.

"You got a problem?" The guard asks while walking up to Doc, seemingly threatening him.

After a couple of minutes, Doc responds, "No,no brother. Just here for the cure." We start walking away towards the garage with Addy and I helping the woman.

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

 "Good shit." Cassandra says after taking another drag, "Uh, thanks. That's our new hybrid." The doctor says nervously, then as Cassandra offers him the thing, he speaks again. "Nah, that's okay, you keep it."

"So how'd you get into the Z weed business anyway?" I ask after a little while.

"I stumbled on this place, the cannabis was growing out of control. All I had to do was harvest it and get the word out. Needless to say, it was a blockbuster product." He finishes while looking at me.

"And what about Batch 47? What makes it so special?" I ask, looking around at the set up.

"That greenhouse hid a top secret crash program to develop an herbal vaccine against the zombie virus. They were growing all these dangerous plants in all these different kinds of zombie compost." He answers.

"And to think we were worried about genetically modified tomatoes." I retort.

"Well, when this place was overrun, the plants grew out of control. The workers were trapped inside." He says while putting on more gear.

"Becoming phyto-zombies." I finish only to have him agree. "Gotta love the post-apoc world."

"We haven't been able to get close enough to Batch 47 to get a proper sample." He says walking up to a map.

"So how many harvesters have gone before me?" I ask, dreading the answer.

"Rounded to the nearest 10? Too many." He responds while turning around towards me. "You might be the one." He says poking me.

"Yeah. I've heard that one before." I retort before walking off.

* * *

 

**Warren's pov**

    We finally reach the garage and see that the woman we saved has a little girl with her. 10k help her sit down next to the sleeping kid and she flinches in pain. "You alright?" I asks her.

"Yeah, I think so." She responds before we all look down to see what Doc is unwrapping, which happens to be a tampon. We all give him a look but he just ignores us as he wraps the woman's leg.

"Mama." The little girl says and the woman reaches out to hug her.

"Hey baby. Hey. Mama's here. I came back to you just like I promised." She says while hugging her.

"Did you find it?" The little girl asks.

"Not yet sweetie, but we're getting close. Okay, lay down." She says, trying to cheer her up and then covers her with a blanket.

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

    "I love the smell of zombies in the morning." I say as we stand outside the greenhouse. "Which way?"

"Follow the machete marks." He responds simply, as if its obvious. I start walking in with the Doctor behind me. After a little while of walking through nothing but plants, the doctor gets caught by a Z and cuts the vine, somehow causing me pain. "What is it? Why'd you stop?" he asks after catching up with me.

"Got a stabbing pain." I grunt, "I'm all right, let's go." I continue, walking off. As we walk a little further, I hear the Doctor call for me. I walk back and see a Z touching him, I push him gently aside and get in the Z's face and make it back off. "Let's go." I say while walking off.

After more time walking, the Doctor stops me, "Look, Batch 46. They tested this batch. The results were promising, but it had lethal side effects." He says then continues walking. I suddenly hear a painful static like noise that brings me slightly to my knees. "Are you okay?" He asks me while looking around.

After a couple of seconds, I respond, "I can feel them."

* * *

 

**Doc's pov**

"How's she doing?" I ask the mom, only to receive a grim look back.

"She's burning up. I can't keep her fever down." She responds while feeling the girls forehead.

"Have you tried antibiotics?" I ask looking up from the girl to look at the mom.

"Nothing works." She responds sadly. The mom looks up at me and looks me in the eyes, "Drug resistant bacteria of some kind. I don't think she has much longer."

"Is that why you became a harvester?" Warren ask her, only to have her turn to her with remorseful eyes.

"I had to mercy her father in front of her after he turned Z. She made me promise her not to let that happen to her." She says then looks down at her daughter again. Addy puts her hand on the mom's shoulder for comfort, "Your a good mom." She says then retracts her hand.

"That's the funny thing, I'm not her mom." She says, surprising all of us. "Her mom's dead. Her whole family is dead. So is mine. All we have is each other and even not that for long." She says and I notice that 10k seems pretty down and I know why. His father was the only family he had left after his mom died, then he had to mercy his own dad when he turned. I can't imagine having to kill the only person you have left and I hope I never have to. I stand up and put a hand on his shoulder. He then looks over at me and mouths a 'thank you', I just nod. The woman then stands up and walks towards the entrance, "All these folks need what's in that greenhouse." She says.

"Even if it kills them." I say back and Addy stands up and walks over to the woman.

"Hey, this thing have a radio?" Addy says in a hopeful tone.

"Yeah. Radio, air conditioner, leather seats. I used to drive one on my dad's farm." The woman responds.

"Excellent." Addy responses while grabbing part of the radio. "Now if only the batteries were charged." She says, then we hear the kid whistle by the entrance, telling us to come over.

"Whats up?" Warren asks,

"I think I know where Murphy is." He responds, pointing to Cassandra, who is sitting a little bit a ways.

"Cassandra." Warren says, only to be added on to by Vasquez, "Kid's right. Murphy won't be far. Must be in the Green house." "Whats he doing in there?" Warren asks aloud.

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

We a pretty far into the greenhouse now and we finally reach Batch 47. "There it is!" I say, pointing to the little card with the number 47 on it.

"I knew it was true." Is all the doctor says before we slowly walk up to it. "Just get a few of the leaves and a seedpod. There, near the base. Just enough to run a few tests." He says while I walk up to a strange cocoon like thing."I don't want to stress the plant out." He says and I turn to him with a 'No duh' look.

"Good thinking." I sneer. I turn and pluck one of the leaves only to hear a loud noise.

"The seedpod, hurry." He says after I pick a few more leaves. Just as I go to grab it, the cocoon like thing starts shaking violently. We quickly get up and start leaving when it turns around and we see its face. I quickly pluck the pod only to feel a wave of pain come through me. It starts bashing around harder and seems really pissed off at me. I apologize then start catching up with the doctor, who is now out of sight. After we get out of that death trap of a greenhouse, the doctor immediately gets to work.

"How do we know if this stuff works?" I ask him once he's done.

"Well, if the dosage is right, it should reverse the effects of the zombie virus." He responds while putting some of the 'vaccine' into a thing.

"Yeah, Moe here gonna sing the star spangled banner?" I joke.

"Ummm.....no. I would be happy with any crude sign of latent humanity." He says back while walking over to use. "Will you do the honors?" He asks, offering me the tube. "The nasal passage gives me a direct access to the brain." He continues while shoving the tube up the zombies nose then blowing into the tube. The zombie head starts acting weird instantly and begins shaking. I quickly put the glass thing over the head right before it explodes.

I can't help but make a comment, "I guess that's a no."

"Subject one, two grams. Failure due to uncontrolled side effects," The doctor writes down. "I'm gonna half the dose." He says while messing around with the tube as we walk over to the next head. After we give the second head the dose, it just seems to put it asleep.

"Nothing. Not even a zombie buzz." I say slightly annoyed. The doctor writes down some more and we move on to the third and final head. "I'm gonna split the difference. This should be just right." He says. I lift the glass for the next head and we give it the dose, which at first does nothing, but then a miracle happens! He speaks! We start freaking out at this and start quickly planning the next phase, only for Cassandra to enter and whisper something in my ear.

"There here."

"Is the kid?" I ask her, trying to find out if the kids with them. Cassandra leans in again and whispers a 'yes'.

I now look up at my new partner, "And I have just the people for the job." I say then we walk out of the lab, taking some guards with us. We reach the garage only to see the group huddled.

"No, I don't like waiting. bad things happen when you wait." I hear Warren respond.

"Well, we can take the guards hostage, search the compound." Vasquez suggests to her.

"I like that. Doc and 10k, you guys create a diversion." She says to them and is about to continue the orders but I decide it's time to interrupt.

"Or you could just walk up and say hello like civilized people."

They all turn there heads towards me, "But where's the fun in that?" I hear the kid mumble under his breath.

"Hello my ass." Warren responds while turning to completely face me.

"You know these folks?" The doctor asks me.

"Oh, we've covered a bit of ground together." I respond.

"Yes, we have. And dude seriously, I'm getting tired of chasing your bony ass all over the damn apocalypse." Doc says while crossing his arms.

"What are we messing around for? This man is our prisoner. We're taking him to California." Vasquez states in his usual 'I'm the boss' tone. Warren gets in front of him and pushes him back.

"Chill out, Rambo. That ain't gonna happen." I challenge him.

"Why not?" He asks stepping up again.

"Because the whole trip to California won't be necessary. There's a cure for the zombie virus right here, in that greenhouse. And all we have to do is go in there and get it." I say to them.

"Batch 47 is real. We just tested it. A bonafied zombie miracle" The doctor adds in. After a lot more talking, going into the greenhouse twice, seeing Doctor Merch again, and the doctor getting killed by the guy who almost blew up 10k showing up, we left the labs in disappointment. After a little ways, we see a single woman with blonde hair that we stop to see who it is. To my shock its Serena, the crazy woman from the Sisters Of Mercy group. And she's pregnant with MY baby. Oh dear lord, help me.


	5. Zombaby part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about going back and writing season 1, but I'm not sure if anyone would read it. Comment if you think I should or shouldn't
> 
> Also, WARNING:  
> -Jealous 10k  
> -10k nearly dies!!!!  
> -Worried Murphy  
> -Worried Doc

AN: I'd like to thank everyone for there support!

**Murphy's pov  
**

We're in Wisconsin, running from a giant horde of Z's, well, the group is anyway. I am currently just strolling down the street with an umbrella in my hand. "Wisconsin cheese day parade." I hear the kid say aloud.

Addy suddenly starts laughing at this as if she can't believe he's never heard of it. "You betcha!" she says while still laughing.

Vasquez suddenly runs up to me, "Hey! I though you control those things!" He says angrily.

"Not that many," I state then look over at him. "And not for you." I finish then look over at the kid, him on the other hand, I'd gladly do it for. After a little more running, Doc suddenly stops to look at something.

"Whoa, wait a minute. Is that cheese?" He says while walking closer to a giant yellow thing.

"No way! The world's biggest wheel of cheese?" The kid says while running backwards.

Warren turns around and rolls her eyes, "It's not real, Doc! Come on! We got to go! Puppies and kittens!" she says. Doc then turns to her and argues with her that it's real.

"Hey, hey. Come on. Let's go. We got to move." Vasquez commands while running back to Doc, Addy, and Serena, who I had just now noticed was puking into on of those picture stands.

"Hey, let's go!" Warren says after none of them start moving.

"She's not moving." Addy says to them while trying to help Serena.

After a couple of seconds, Warren speaks up, "Got an idea." she says while rushing over to the wheel. "Out of my way Doc, I need that cheese!" Doc then turns to her, clearly upset.

"Oh come on Warren! Can't a man eat a giant cheese wheel in peace?" Doc pouts.

"No, remember Philly?" Warren says while turning to him.

"Oh no, are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Doc says, clearly remembering it.

"I am." Is all she replies with,

"Oh no, no, no, no." I say, hoping there's another way.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Addy agrees while running towards the wheel.

"Way to be my girl. Thanks." Warren says while getting ready, "I got it."

I then notice Vasquez looking confused, "What happened in Philly?" he asks.

"You'll see." The kid answers back, unsure if this will work. After Addy moves the ramp thing that kept it from rolling, Warren and her gave it a push, causing it to roll right on top of the Z's.

"Damn!" Vasquez says as we watch it roll down the hill, killing more and more Z's as it goes.

"How long do you think it will go?" The kid asks,

"Could go a while, I'm pretty sure its all down hill from here to the Mississippi." Warren replies.

"Now, it's time to go!" She orders. "If anybody asks. . .. "

"We were nowhere near Wisconsin." We all finish, already knowing the drill.

 

 

 

"Rollin' rollin' rollin' Keep that cheese a rollin'." Doc sings as we're driving.

"Warren, we need to pull over!" Addy suddenly says, causing Warren to slam on the breaks, causing us all to jerk. Somehow, the kid landed on my lap, then he shoots up, face completely red and avoiding eye contact.

As Serena is puking her guts out, Doc starts talking to me, "Well aren't you gonna at least talk to her?"  I look over at Serena, who is still puking, "Come on, Murphy. She don't bite." He continues.

I then turn to him, raising an eyebrow. "We all know that's not true." is all I said to him. Right after I say this, the groaning stops and Serena turns to me, wiping her mouth in the process. She then starts waving, but then quickly turns around and starts puking again.

"What's their story?" I hear Vasquez asks Warren. Warren looks up at Serena then looks over at me, "What happens in weird zombie apocalypse community stays in weird zombie apocalypse community." After she says this, she looks back down at the map and Vasquez just nods, "Yeah, been there." Warren looks up at him and he just shrugs, causing Warren to grin.

Addy suddenly starts walking over to me, "She wants you."

"So?" I ask, arms still crossed. Addy seems not to have liked my response, causing her to glare at me. "So she says that talking to you makes her feel better and that she can't get in the car unless you make her feel better." She says, smirking at me.

Well, challenge accepted, "No." I sneer. Addy and Doc then look over at Warren, who is already looking at us.

"Murphy," She warns.

"What?" I reply agitated. She just shakes her head at me and gestures with her head to Serena, who is still puking. I uncross my arms and reluctantly start walking towards her.

"Play nice," Doc says, then looking over at Addy, who just shrugs. As I reach Serena, I notice that Cassandra is watching us from on top of the car. After Serena finally stopped puking, we both sit in the back of the car, waiting for Warren to figure out were we're going.

"And then there was this guy, and he was like 'I used to be a cage fighter. I beat a seven foot Samoan. I can beat Mike Tyson in a bar fight. I can beat any zombie you bitches throw at me."' And we were like 'What about a bear, huh? What about a zombie bear?'" Serena starts laughing and I can't help but look at her. After she stops laughing, she continues. "But he couldn't. He couldn't beat a zombie bear." She grabs my arm, "He didn't cuz the bear was like 'Rawr! I'm a bear!' Then he was like...." She couldn't finish the story because she was laughing so hard. She suddenly hops off and starts puking again, causing me to put my legs up so they don't get puked on. As she's finishing, I walk off and hear Addy talking to Warren.

"This cannot go on." Warren nods in agreement, then, as I approach them, I speak.

"Can't we just leave her?" Warren and Addy just seem to get upset with me for asking this, "No, we can't. We got to find a safe place for her and your baby. Anything happens to you, that kid is plan B." I suddenly get upset at the though of my kid being used as a lab rat.

"Plan B? What exactly are you planning on doing with it?" Doc then goes to the back of the truck and checks up on her, only for her to ask for something to eat.

"Used to be a decent size Mennonite community just southeast of here. Pretty remote and isolated. Passed through here few months ago. They were still safe then and good chance they still are." Vasquez says.

"I'll take that chance." Warren responds. Suddenly, there's a gun shot through the windshield, causing us to immediately take cover.

"Get back, get back!" The kid yells at us. "Got em," he says while pointing his scope.

"What do you see?" Warren asks him, "Couple of guys in hunting caps, one seriously pissed off looking girl with-" He's cut off as more gunfire comes our way, causing him to duck behind the car with the rest of us. "She's got my same gun." He says with a dorky smile.

"Well why's she shooting at us?" Doc asks him, only for Vasquez to respond.

"I dunno. Maybe it has something to do with this nice Zero ride we got. Can't imagine our Mexican friends are too popular around here." He says right before the kid takes a shot, then looks at us, "Winged one."

"Okay, I'm thinking 10k and Addy, you guys lay down some cover fire. And then we'll flank them around...." She gets cut off by some serious gunfire, only it wasn't at us.

"You dirt eating bastards! You filthy goat loving whores! There is a baby on board here! A mother loving baby! I am going to rip off your arms and saw off your head!" We hear Serena yelling as the gunfire slowly stops after a while. We all slowly peak out over the truck to see her holding an automatic weapon by her side, panting for breath. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She says while taking one last glance at the hill where the others used to be.

She then turns to us, looking at us as if she hadn't just lost it, "People are so rude." is all she says after that.

Doc then leans towards me, "I'm starting to like this girl." "Yeah." I say back.

"I think it's time for a new vehicle." Warren says.

 

 

After we hike up the hill and find the truck the others used to get here, Serena starts talking to me again, "So I was thinking as soon as she can walk, I can teach her karate. I mean the girl's got kick on her. You totally felt that right? And she isn't that bad with a punch either. Plus, there's all these awesome weapons she could learn about. She could have a Bo staff or a sword. She'd be amazing." She says as we get closer to the truck.

As we get in, I start to speak, "Okay, so they did shoot at us. But......hey, they left us this nifty ride and a half eaten hamburger that hasn't degraded in four years." I pick up the hamburger and am about to toss it when Serena asks for it, then I feed it to her.

After a while, we find what Vasquez was talking about earlier. As we get out of the truck, Addy says something, "Well we've seen Amish zombies, Mormon zombies. We get Mennonite zombies, we've got ourselves a trifecta."

"Something must've happened here. Barn didn't look that way six months ago."  Vasquez says while pulling a set of binoculars to his eyes. "Wait a minute. There's live stock, that's a good sign."

"Yeah, well we're not going in there blind. So Vasquez, you take the south fence. 10k, you go North. Addy and I got over watch. Be back in 20." Warren orders.

They take off in there assigned directions and Doc suddenly speaks up, "Fine, I'll just take a nap." He then walks over to the truck and gets in with me and Serena.

* * *

 

**10k's pov**

I'm walking through an open field when I see a man in overalls and a couple of women dressed in all white tending to the fields."Hey!" I call out to them, only for them to turn and scream at me.

"No, it's okay! I'm not a zombie!" I yell back, trying to calm them down, but then they start yelling something and pointing behind me. I turn to see two Z's right behind me, about to attack. I hit the first one with the butt of my rifle, only for it's face to explode with this white powder that makes me cough. I start fighting the second, who had grabbed my rifle, but I quickly take out my knife and mercy it

I hear one of the women scream and see that there was a third Z, one that I quickly shoot using my rifle. The women keeps screaming and I then notice a zombie sheep, well that's new. I shoot it too and the group starts running off. "Hey!" I yell, trying to get them to stop, but to no avail.I then start running after them, only to be ignored. I try to reason with them, but it doesn't help.

I start walking back to the truck. When I get there, Addy speaks up, "We got 10k, Vasquez?"

"Not yet." Warren responds. I look over to see Murphy and Serena in the truck, laughing. I can't help but glare at Serena, I don't know why she bothers me so much, but she does. As I get closer, Cassandra starts sniffing me for some reason."Well?" Warren asks me as I reach her.

"Yeah, there's still people here, but they ran away from me."

As I finish, Doc asks a question, "Zombies?"

"The usual. Oh, and there's also zombie sheep." I answer back.

"Zombie sheep?" Doc asks only for me to nod in response. "Why not." He says while throwing his hand up and then letting them drop.

"Whats all that?" Warren asks, gesturing to the white powder.

"Uh, came out of a Z's head when I killed it. I dunno, maybe powdered brains?" I say only for Doc to start laughing.

"Wash that crap off. Who knows what kind of zombie cooties are in there." She says while handing me a rag.

"Are we goin' in or not?" Murphy asks while sticking his head out the window of the truck.

Warren then turns to him, looking irritated, "Yeah, but carefully. Something about this doesn't feel right."

"Never stopped us before." Addy comments.

"I haven't felt right since 1973." Doc adds in. I hop on the back of the pick up truck and we start driving closer to the barn. After Vasquez finds us and we get in a fight with more Z's with the assistants of some of the locals, they start talking to us.

"You English should not be here." One of the men say to us.

"We're not staying. One of our people......Uh. She needs a place to have her baby." As Warren finishes, the men look over at Serena. "Can I talk to a leader? An elder?" Warren asks the man.

"No, no, I.....I am leader now. All elders are dead. And its not safe for you here." He says, only for us to look at him oddly. "The white powder, we have Anthrax here."

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

Did he just say Anthrax? Wait, didn't the kid get covered in that powder twice?! Shit! "All right folks, time to go. There's no room at this inn. Ah, sorry for your troubles." Warren says.

"Everyone has trouble these days." The man says to us.

"Ain't that the truth." Warren responds. Just as we start heading for the truck, one of the guys that was standing there suddenly faints. Doc and Addy run to him and start seeing if he's okay, while the guys he is with just stand there. 

"Oh man, he's burning up." Doc says after putting his hand on the guy's forehead.

"He has it. The disease. Milzbrand Krankheit." The leader guy says, not even trying to help his friend.

"What he needs is antibiotics. You got any of those?" Vasquez says, not even pretending to be worried. Doc looks over at him and then runs over to the truck where Serena is standing, only for her to suddenly starts bleeding.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Water broke, Daddy-o." He says back to me looking calmer then he should.

"Well don't just stand there, fix it!" I yell back at him, slightly agitated.

"Its all good. It won't be long now, papa." Serena says to me, holding her stomach with one hand and reaching for my shoulder with the other. We turn when we hear some rustling leaves, only for a couple of Z's to come running out of the nearby trees and go straight for Serena, only to be tackled by 10k. One the Z's ends up on top of him, but as we go to help him, the other group grab us so we can't help. After a couple of second of struggling, the kid finally stabs the Z through the eye with a nearby sharp stick. The second the stick goes through the skull, the white powder covers 10k in a cloud of white. After a couple of minutes go by the cloud clears, we then see the kid is on the ground coughing, surrounded by the bodies of the other Z's.

The minute he gets up and starts walking over to us, the group lets us go and we rush over to the kid. "Omg thank you!" Serena says to him while hugging him as tight as she could. The kid just shrugs after she lets go and we then hear some more Z's.

The kid then pushes Serena out of the way and gets attacked by a Z and he swiftly kills it, but it causes even more of the powder to get on him. The kid then walks towards us and the other group, who seemed to have grown, forces us into the nearby barn. The barn is full of people wearing the same type of clothes as the men and they all are speaking some strange language that I don't understand.

* * *

 

**10k's pov**

Damn it! Why did this have to happen to me? What will the group say? Damn it! I can't help but rub my shoulder in worry, I mean, I gonna actually die soon. I hate to admit this to myself, but I'm scared.

 

AN: I totally went off canon, but it will get good, promise. Any guess on what happened in that cloud of white?


	6. Zombaby part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same warnings as the first part!!!!!!

**Murphy's pov**

    Its been around a day and a half since we were forced into this damn barn and most locals are still acting like we're not even here. The ones that do unfortunately are afraid of us. No, not us, the kid. The kid's been acting weird, as if something happened we don't know about. Maybe I should ask him? "Murphy, what's got you so quiet?" Doc jokes while walking over to where I'm sitting.

"You notice 10k's been acting weird, right?"

His face suddenly turns serious,"Now that I think about, yeah, but I'm sure its just being trapped in here that's got him like this." Doc responds sitting down next to me. I'm probably just being paranoid but I can't shake this feeling that somethings wrong.

"Murphy! Doc! Come quick!" We both shoot up before running over to Addy, who is currently trying to calm Serena down. Doc instantly goes to work and starts preparing for the baby's arrival. I look over to see the kid watching all this from the ledge of the second floor, he then looks directly at me and he has a sad look in his eyes. 'Sorry' he mouths, then starts walking further away from the ledge. What the fuck was that about? Anyway, I'm pulled out of my thoughts after another scream from Serena, who then yanks me over by my sleeve. Damn that girl's got strength! When we finally get Serena calmed down and I regain feeling back in my hand, she then passes out.

"Whats wrong?!" I ask Doc.

"She's having contractions, but they're slower than most. The baby should be hear in about a day or so." He says while digging through his bag.

Now, time to see what the fuck is up with the kid. I walk over to the ladder that leads to second floor of the barn. and I immediately see the kid looking out the window and he's looking at the Z's and the newly blood soaked shacks that the others lived in before. "Hey, why are you up here?" I asked him. I reach over to grab his shoulder, but the second I do, he hisses and jerks away. I quickly pull him again and quickly rip his sleeve slightly, causing him to wince again. I then see a small amount of blood on his sleeve that's coming from further up on his arm. "What's this?!" I demanded, now trying to see the wound.

"You can't tell anyone!" He quickly pleaded to me. Why would he be so worried about an injury....... no, it can't be, theirs no way!

"Show me." I say, trying to keep the worry and panic from my voice. He looks as if he's about to argue, so I swiftly tear the sleeve more and move it out the way and what I see on his shoulder feels like I was just punched in the gut. Their's a god damn bite mark. Wait, if this happened yesterday, he should have changed by now. "Why haven't you turned?" I ask, trying to remain calm. The kid then starts shaking and having trouble breathing and I, without even thinking about it, hug him and he lets me. I try to comfort him as much as I can right now. I know how it feels to be bitten and then finding out your immune. I remember when I woke up after being bitten and the wave of feelings I felt was almost unbearable. 

After a while, I finally calm the kid down enough to talk and we then sit there in silence for a few minutes, then the kid finally speaks. "So I guess I'm immune too then." I turn to him and see him looking at me, waiting for my reaction. He seems almost. . . scared of my reaction.

"Yeah, welcome to the hope for humanity club." I replied, hoping to show him I'm not upset. The kid snorts at this as we both look towards the window. I turn to say something else but it's immediately forgotten as I look at the kid. The light is shinning on him and he looks stunning. He then turns to me and without even thinking, I feel myself leaning in . I feel myself panic but I then realize he's leaning too.

"Murphy! 10K!" We both jump a foot when we hear Warren calling for us. I look at the kid to see him blushing and start to fix his sleeve to cover the bite mark. Damn it! So close. When we get down to the first level, we see the others are now settled around Serena and there waiting for us. "Meeting." Warren says while raising a eyebrow at the kid, who is still a little red from earlier. I sit down next to Serena and the kid leans against a wooden pillar. "Alright, what are we gonna do?" Warren asks, looking at each of us in turn.

"We could always just sit and wait." Doc says, laying down in the hay nearby, looking as if he's about to take a nap.

"Any better ideas?" Warren asks the rest of us.

"I guess we'll use Doc's idea for now" The kid says to Warren after a minute of silence. She nods and then we see that the kid isn't looking at her, but is looking at a group of men who are glaring at him.

"Whats up with them?" Addy asks him, causing him to look at us.

"Its nothing." The kid grunts coldly while getting up. There's something going on that we don't now about.

**AN: this part has different language in it,but I have translations.**

**{Morning}**

I'm woken up by the sound of shouting. As I get up from where I was previously sleeping, I see the others are woken up by this too. The source of the noise is the other guys, who seem to be arguing with each other. After a couple more minutes, the argument starts getting violent and Warren and Vasquez have to step in. "What is going on!?" she says while holding one of the guys.

"Vebraakja!" One of the men, who has a beard, screams.  

"What?" Doc says, trying to make sense of what he just said.

"It means thief." 10K suddenly says out of nowhere. We all give him a questioning look, but he just shrugs "Na nu? Dee vebraakja?  [Whats wrong? Who thief?]" the kid says to the men, who have now stopped trying to get to each other, and they don't seem surprised that the kid can speak their language. It was as if they already knew the kid could speak to them.

"Am [Him]" the bearded man says while pointing at other guy, who looks absolutely pissed.

10k then looks at us, "He says that guy stole from him."

"How do you know how to speak there language?" Addy asks him quickly.

"Um. . . well . . . I might. . . I might be able to speak five other languages?" he reluctantly admits while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

After a couple of seconds, Doc breaks the silence, "What languages?"

"Spanish, Chinese, Plautdietsch, Latin, and Japanese." He answers while counting on his fingers. We all look at him in complete shock, which we're brought out of by the two men fighting again.

"Jie veschaunden onsa! [you have brought shame to us]" beard man screams to the other and they are now trying to fight again.

"Waut dee boween? [what he steal?]" the kid ask beard man.

"Bad. [Bed.]" he says while glaring at thief.

"He stole a bed?" The kid says out loud. The bearded man nods at this and continues to glare at the 'thief'. The kid turns to the thief and looks him over, waiting for the man to say something.

"Na, nich Vebraakja! [No, not thief!]"

"He says he's not the thief." 10k translates for us. 

 

**AN: I know it's short, but this is as much as I can give you right now. Happy holidays and happy New Year! I'll get back on track in the next chapter, then its to my favorite episode, The Collector!**


	7. Zombaby part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chap  
> \- possessive Murphy  
> \- protective Murphy  
> \- miscarriage  
> \- character death  
> \- comforting 10k

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting a new thing on CHAPTER 7, I'm gonna put either a slightly altered 1 pop culture quote or a pop culture reference in each chapter from there on and the first person to tell me the following gets congratulations and a message to them in the following chapter.  
> \- the quote/ reference in the chapter  
> \- the real quote  
> \- where the original quote or reference came from or is talking about

**10k's pov**

Great, just great. We've only been here about two and a half days and this community is already having problems, that has got to be a new record for us. " Woo begonen jie kjanen? Waut dien namen? [how do you know? What your name]" I ask the man,

"Namen Evert, Am boowen hinjarigjs! [ My Name is Evert and he steals behind one's back!]" I turn to the others, whom I just remembered can’t understand any of this, and translate for them.

"His name," I say while pointing to the man with a beard, "Is Evert and he says that the other guy steals behind someone's back," I say to them.

"Tell them that we can help," Warren says to me, I then turn towards Evert and begin speaking again.

"Maun enkoaken halpen jie. [We can help you]" Right as I finish saying this, we hear a noise coming from where a group of women is doing laundry. We all rush over there when we see that one of the women have turned into a Z. I quickly pull out my knife and am about to kill it when suddenly a man pushes me away from the Z. The man then gets attacked, by who I'm assuming was his wife at one point, and is bitten in the shoulder. As he's screaming, the Z pulls away and tries to get to Serena but I stop it. I quickly stab the woman through the eye and again get covered in the Anthrax powder. When I finally regain my vision, I see that the others are trying to keep others from being turned but the other group isn't listening to them, so they're getting bitten. After a couple of chaotic minutes, we finally kill all the Z's and there is not many from the other group left. There's Evert, three women, and two other guys left and we start cleaning out the bodies from the barn. 

 

**Murphy's pov  {couple minutes later}**

Well, that was pleasant. As we finish moving the bodies, we check to make sure none of the others are bitten, which none of them are. All the other guys and I are now sitting away from Serena, who is now screaming bloody murder and is in labor. The three girls are surrounding her and are trying their best to help her, but there isn't much they can do at this point other than comfort her.

“Are you excited?" One of the men, Evert I think, asks me, trying his best to speak English. I would have answered if I was paying attention, but I can't look away from 10k, who now looks sick.

"Are you okay?" Doc asks him, only to get a nod in response, though it's clear that he's lying. Before I can even think of something to snap back, the kid suddenly goes into a coughing fit, only he's coughing up blood. Doc and I shoot up and rush over to him, but he seemed to have passed out. "10k, can you hear me?! Come on kid!" Doc says, now looking around in his bag for something. I put the kid's head on my lap, carefully so I don't make things worse.

"Why aren't the rest of us infected?" I ask Doc, who is still looking through is bag.

"Warren, Vasquez and I all served, so we were given vaccines for a lot of weird shit. I would guess because of your immunity, you haven't been infected. With Addy and Serena, I have no idea." Doc response as he finally finds what he's looking for. He pulls out a bottle of something and hands me two, "Give these to him, force it down his throat if you have to but make sure he takes both.

 

**Half an hour later**

The kid was able to swallow luckily and is still asleep with his head on my lap. I'm brought out of my thoughts by the women suddenly screaming at us in their language that we don't understand. I lay his head on some hay before standing up, I then shake his shoulders and he wakes up weakly but is able to sit up with some help. "What?" he says sleepily, still trying to fully wake up. I point over to the women and he turns towards them, only to have his barely opened eyes shoot wide open a minute later. "Shit!" He says, standing up too fast, he then starts wobbling and I quickly pull his arm over my neck, supporting him.

"What?" I ask, scared to know the answer.

"It's Serena, they say somethings wrong with her and the baby!" He says, finally getting his balance and rushing over to the girls.

 

 **Four hours later**     

It all happened so fast, the Z's came in too fast, there was nothing I could do to save them. Serena, I'm so sorry, I couldn't save either of you. There was so much blood, everywhere, all I saw was red. I still can hear her screaming and the baby crying. Why couldn't I have done something! "Murphy, how are you doing?" The kid asks, sitting next to me in the bed of the truck.

"Fine" I hear myself reply, only to slightly cringe at how broken I sound. The kid then does something that surprises me, he puts his head on my shoulder and hugs me. After a couple of seconds, he pulls back and looks me in the eye, but quickly looks away the minute our eyes catch each other.

"I'm so sorry," he says, looking through the window, trying not to look me in the eye. I just nod and after a couple of minutes, the kid seems to have fallen asleep, though looking really uncomfortable. I gently lay his head on my shoulder and look up to see Doc watching us with a knowing look on his face. 

Of course, a few minutes later, the moment is broken by Warren yelling. "Addy, what do you see?"

"I see dead people," Addy replies dryly, looking away from the window at her. Warren rolls her eyes at Addy and keeps driving, mumbling something along the lines of 'smartass'

After a while, I look over at the kid, who's head is still on my shoulder, and can't help but stare. He looks peaceful, which is something the kid hardly feels or shows for that matter, and he's smiling. Seemingly sensing that I'm staring, his eyes start to open and he looks up at me and blushes. He quickly pulls his head away and turns his head away, trying to hide the blush I already saw. The moment was suddenly broken by Warren slamming on the breaks, sending us both forward. We slowly get out of the back a couple of seconds later, only to see Addy and Doc arguing with Warren and Vasquez.


	8. The Collecter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I skipped somethings and also Cassandra's death.SO yah, you know  
> I AM SOOOO SORRY FOR THE WAIT!!!!!!!! MY COMPUTER GOT A VIRUS ON IT AND I COULDN'T UPDATE!!!
> 
>  
> 
> Also, a shout out to usmfan2759 for getting the quote last chapter!!!!

**Murphy's pov**

I come back to the group after going to take a piss, only to see the kid is yelling at Vasquez while Warren, Doc and Addy are on the side line watching this, looking at the kid with a pitiful look. "What's going on?! Where's Cassandra?!" I yell. They all turn to me and I now see that Vasquez has blood on him.

"He killed her." The kid growls while glaring at Vasquez and Warren.

"What!" I shout, anger clear in my tone.

"She wasn't human anymore!"  Vasquez yells back at the kid, returning the glare.

"She was more of a human then you are!" The kid snarls back, ignoring the warning look from Warren and the others.

"What did you just say!" Vasquez growls while taking a step closer to the kid. Warren then gets between the two before anything else can happen and tells both of them to back off. We then all turn to the car to see what we have left, which isn't much.

"Flashlight, no batteries. Half a bottle of aspirin. Well, I got no ammo. Found this." Doc says while rummaging through his bag, then pulling up a crowbar.

"I got two batteries and four bullets." Warren says before Addy says what she has,

"I got two in my gun and two random ones and those." Addy states while putting the remaining bullets with the others.

"You got gum?" Warren asks Addy when she lays out two gum wrappers.

"For repair purposes only." She says back to Warren.

Doc then wraps his arm around Addy and says something, "Remember fresh breath."

"Oh." Addy says after smelling Doc's breath. We then all turn to 10k and Vasquez, who are still glaring at each other.

"A couple of bullets and road flares." Vasquez says while looking away from the kid. The kid has a couple bullets as well, but they only go to his rifle.

After that, Warren tries to raise our morals. "I know this looks shaky, but we will find a way to get Murphy to California." She says.

"Well, I'm hungry." Doc says out of nowhere, then walks over to where I'm laying down in the car. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty." I look up at him but then I somehow see his brain and I can't look away. "What you looking at?" He says but his voice sounds different.

"Murphy......Murphy......MURPHY!" I get snapped out of it by 10k, who is now standing behind my head and is waving his hand in front of my face, causing me to slightly jump. After Doc asks me to help him find lunch and we go into the forest, I start walking off while Doc is spitting out tree bark he thought was edible. I stumble upon a brain that is dangling from a tree and for some reason, I reach out for it only to fall into a pit that was hidden. I must of passed out after that because the next thing I know, I'm being woken up by something landing next to me. I slowly start to get up only to be startled by a Z standing right next to me, eating what I can only guess to be a brain. My suspicion about what it's eating is proven right when I see a body next to me, the front of the head missing. After a little while, the Z offers me part of the brain then returns back to eating it when I decline. I stand up and start shouting for help, but hear nobody nearby.

 

**10k's pov**

"I'm gonna be really pissed if my last words are 'Murphy, where are you?" Addy grumbles as we're searching for Murphy, who has disappeared. . . . again.

"We may as well be saying 'Here we are zombies. Come and get us!" Doc adds in afterwards. "Well, I think it was somewhere around here. Oh, and don't eat the bark off them skinny trees. Starts out tangy, then goes south in a hurry." Doc says, then turns, "Oh, maybe it was over here. . . " He leads off, now walking away.

After searching for what felt like hours, we go back and find a still empty car. "Damn, I was hoping we'd find him hear napping." Doc says while rushing to the back seat of the car.

Of course that bastard, Vasquez, just has to make a comment, "That slippery bastard's gonna spend the rest of his days in shackles if I have anything to say about it. And I do." He says, looking me in the eye the whole time, daring me to say anything.

 

**Murphy's pov**

Ugh.. why do I feel as if I was hit by a car? I slowly open my eyes but then have to shut them do to the sudden light. After I let my eyes adjust, I reopen them and start to look around, only to see that I am no longer in that trap. Judging by the hard smooth surface that I'm currently strapped to, I must by on one of those steel slabs. I suddenly hear foot steps coming towards me and I try to see who's coming, but the binds prevent me from fully turning my head or neck. I hear humming as a strange man starts walking towards the other table with a Z's head in his hands. He sets it down on the table across from mine and then grabs a white towel from a small table nearby.

He stops and turns to me while wiping off his hands, "Your eyes follow me like a creepy painting. That's weird for a Z. Zombies are more like. . ." He starts making this weird noise and I start feeling annoyed by this crazy nut  job. He then turns on this electric saw and starts cutting the top of the Z's head off. Once he finishes cutting the top of the, still alive, Z's head he reaches for it and takes it off, showing the brain. "Didn't want to kill him. This one was a handful. Hiding in the dark to surprise me, kicking my Z catcher away, trying to remove my helmet." The man says, as if what he's doing is completely normal and while he's saying this, he takes the actual brain out of the Z's skull.

"Sometimes I do wish I was a doctor, though I consider myself more of a collector, but letters after a name do not the genius make." He rambles on, wiping his hands again with the white towel. " Those quacks at the CDC ignored me, they should have listened to me." He sneers before he starts walking towards me. "What do we have here? Male, well preserved. You're fresh for a zombie, but fresh Z's are agitated and wild. They only want to feed, but you are so mellow." I can't take this anymore and before I can stop myself, I ask for water but it comes out more like gibberish.

The man's eyes widen and he seems to be slightly excited, "That's interesting." He then quickly pulls out a notebook out from no where andquickly starts writing something down. "I've yet to meet Z that could speak, and I've met a lot of Zs. Does your brain resemble his brain?" He asks, pointing over to the other table and starts walking over there, only for him to come back with the saw from earlier. "I'll have to remove your brain from your head to see." I quickly shake my head and the man stops, seemingly surprised. "No? Bad idea?" He then laughs as I nod my head.

I try talking again, but it's hard without water, "Wa. . . . Speak to me, zombie. You can do it." Right as he finishes, I'm able to say water. "Synapses may be firing." After a couple more attempts, he finally understands what I'm asking. "A zombie just asked me for water." After gets the water, he holds it up in one hand and the saw in the other, he then asks mw which is the water. I swear if I wasn't strapped down and dehydrated, I'd kill this guy. After he finally gives me the water, he starts rambling on about safari's and zipcodes, but then he mentions radio chatter and feel myself tense up.

 

 AN: SO SORRY FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER BUT MY COMPUTER IS STILL A LITTLE GLITCHY AND ITS HARD TO TYPE, I'LL TRY TO UPDATE SOON.. THERE IS NO REFERCE IN THIS CHAPTER DO TO ITS SHORTNESS

\- Jade Flame ;]

 


	9. The Collecter part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay y'all, My computer is virus free and I've got a bunch of candy, sugary drinks, and a pillow, I will not be leaving this chair until I give you a well-earned chapter.
> 
> ALSO I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT GIVING CREDIT ON THE POP CULTURE REFERENCE THING ON CH. 7 but there isn't one in this chapter
> 
> Congrats usmfan2759 for getting the 'I see dead people' line on chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS:  
> Murphy's foul language  
> Worried 10K  
> Protective Murphy  
> Protective 10K

Murphy's pov

Just as I feared, the mystery man suddenly started playing Citizen Z's recording, which I'm starting to memorize. After that was over, the man speaks, " A survivor of a zombie bite? That'd make some kind of half-man, half-zombie," he says, then starts chuckling. After he catches his breath, he continues, "That'd be a far fetched story. A story that would require irrefutable evidence. . ." he starts rolling up my shirt, looking for the bites. The man then goes into some sort of shock while feeling over my torso with his hands, making me feel violated. "You are the Murphy!"

After a little while , the man leads me into a chair and starts wiping off my face. "There, there, Mr. Murphy. Do a zombie's cuts get infected? The flesh is rotting. . . " The man trails off, clearly in his own little personal shit-hole.

"I'm _not_ a zombie." I say before flinching away in pain.

"And you feel pain. . ."

"Uh, Yeah." Right after I say this, the man suddenly pulls out index cards and starts rapidly writing something down. "What's up with those cards?" I ask, trying to see what he's writing.

"I'm constantly observing and recording data all the time." Suddenly I feel pain shoot through my body, making me feel as though I'm on fire and my blood is burning. 

After it stops and I catch my breath, I glare at the man, "What the hell was that for?!"

"Pain is a useful teacher." He responds, acting as if he hadn't just electrocuted me.

"Hey, listen, is this thing really necessary?" I ask, dreading the answer.

"I've heard tales of The Murphy," the man says, seemingly ignoring my question, but then answering, "The stories suggest you are the most dangerous man half-alive."

I realize there is no escape with this fucking collar on, so I try to ease the man, "That's absurd!" The man only raises an eyebrow at this. Okay, time for plan two. "Listen, my friends are gonna be looking for me-"

"Friends?" The man cuts me off, the smile on his face turning into a look of annoyance. The man starts walking towards a nearby table with a closed case on it, "You mean the bounty hunters who are taking you to the CDC lab." The man sneers, saying it with venom in his tone. "The CDC are idiots!" He continues, taking envelopes out of the case. When he brings them over to me, they seem to be letters to the CDC, only with the 'return to sender' stamped onto them. I also notice he left the remote for the shock collar over by the case.

"These are all unopened."

"After a while, they stopped reading my warnings. They were probably in on it."

 

After he finally lets me up, we start walking down stairs, into some sort of museum thing. "Imagine if the biggest Comic Con ever did it with the Smithsonian. Voila!" He says, sounding like a excited kid.

"You're making a zombie museum?" I ask, looking around.

“It'll be much more than that when we open the restaurants, the night clubs, and the gift shop. It won't be one of those candy-ass Comic Cons where they ban real weapons." 

Does he really think all this? This guy is insane! "You're banned from Comic Con?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm a zombie hunter, of course I'm carrying!" I then hear him mumble something about Cosplay not being a real word. "White zombie. Have you ever seen this?"  He asks, walking up to a poster with 'White Zombie' written in huge, white letters and eyes in the background.

"I missed that one. I'm not what you'd call a hard-core fan of the genre." I say, facing him instead of the poster.

"Released in 1932, It is the grandfather of the American zombie film. Starring Bela Lugosi, White Zombie introduced the notion that shooting a zombie in the chest would not kill it." He rambles, seemingly in his own world.

"And they were right." I mumble, though loud enough for him to hear. The man suddenly starts doing a funny walk, that only can be described as Frankenstein, towards another poster.

"I Walked with a Zombie, from 1943. Taps into the Haitian voodoo roots of the mythology. You see, Caribbean slaves feared they would remain servants even in death."

"I've had that nightmare." I retort. He starts walking away again, toward a movie poster that I faintly recognize.

"The one that started it all for me. Zombie lore has been part of the collective consciousness for decades, but the works of George Romero had a massive influence on the culture! Weaving social commentary into a monster movie gave his films a resonance!" He then suddenly asks about my favorite scene and then starts ranting about his, though quickly after that, he asks something personal.

"What about your mother?" "

My mother?" I ask, only to receive a nod, "Gone."

"Mine too, zombie?"

"No, before." He apologizes and then goes onto another rant about life being hard without someone looking after you.

 

After more talking, he gives me a private room and some new clothes. As I finish getting dressed, I suddenly hear a Z that's way to close for my liking, though I relax when I hear the man's voice with it. It doesn't last long when blood splatters on the clear wall I'm next too. I walk out, only to see the man get pinned to the wall by a Z. I then notice the shock collar's remote on the floor and quickly swipe it. "You're busy. The others will be expecting me." I say, placing the remote in my jacket pocket. The man abruptly pushes the Z away, but then falls. "I'm kinda their mission." I sneer and start walking away.

"Have I been talking to myself?!" This gets me to stop and turn, which tells the man to continue, "You are their pawn!" He shouts. Anger shoots through my veins and I can't stop from growling.

"I'm nobodies pawn!" I smash the pole into the mans head, knocking him over. "I'm gonna leave you two. I'll see myself out. It's a left, left, down the stairs, and to the right, right?" I start walking away only to suddenly feel pain shoot through my body and I fall unconscious. After waking up, doing a talk show, and eating brains- interesting day, I know- the man then knocks me unconscious again.

 

**Doc's pov**

 We rush over to another house and stand by the door. "Okay, we're gonna go on three. One-" I'm cut off when Addy suddenly kicks the door in and a Z rushes out straight towards me. Addy kills it but it still hits me, knocking me down the steps with the dead Z on top of me. "I said three!" I grumble. 

"We do a three count at every house we're gonna be here all day." Addy counters while standing at the top of the steps, looking down at me.

After regrouping with the others and still not finding anything, we stay as a group and move on, though not far. When we stop to take a break, Warren starts talking, "All right, we need to fan out or we won't find Murphy by nightfall." The minute she says that, everyone scatters but me.

"Well why we got to split up? I hate that."


	10. The Collector Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School's finally out and I'll be updating a lot more!

**Murphy's pov**

After that dreadful 'interview' the man takes me to a room that's lighted all in red with a bunch of Z's on platforms.

"What is this?" I ask,dreading the answer. We stop in front of a few Z's that look strangely familiar.

"The main exhibit hall. Rudimentary, I know, but my zombie collection is growing." He says as if this is all completely normal. Growls can be heard all over while we walk further and further down the hall. We stop in front of a Z with a cardboard sign with 'Toxic Z' written on it in Sharpe.

"Don't worry, it's not really radioactive." He says as the Z gets electrocuted. "I mean, the diorama isn't, the zombie might be." He says, as if that's actually gonna make me less worried. "Toxic waste poisoning, probable cause of death, no bite marks on him." He says, not a bit of emotion in his voice. We continue down the hall and stop at a Z's that's all too familiar to me.

"A phyto Z?" I ask.

"Phyto? I've been calling her Plant Woman! Phyto is better" He laughs while the Z gets electrocuted.

"Where did you find these?" I ask

"Hunting far and wide, not easy. The CDC should be putting this kind of effort into observing Z's instead of playing poker in their lab all day. There are some awesome mutations happening." He rambles on while we pass a Blaster. How in the hell did he catch on of those!?

"How did you capture a Blaster!?" I ask, only to receive a grin in response.

"Blaster? You're good at this." He says, writing that down. "This one, was clever, must have been in proximity to a nuclear blast. Blaster. I got it. Part of his brain still works. He can learn things. I'm gonna teach him how to juggle." He says, grinning like a child.

"You can't keep live zombies like this!" I snap, looking at him in horror.

"It's perfectly safe. The invisible fence keeps them - Almost forgot, over here!" He says, suddenly speed walking over to another Z. " The Celebrity Zombie Room," he says while opening a door. "Presenting, George RR Martin!"

 

"Who the hell is that?" I ask, looking at this crazy man.

"He wrote Game Of Thrones!" he says,

"We didn't get HBO in the clink." I say, shaking my head.

"Well, he's my only Celebrity Z so far.

"How?"

"I was at the last ComiCon when it all went down. Some dirty guy with a crossbow tried to help George escape. got eaten. I helped George and his girls escape, but they didn't last long without room service. Watch this." He says, reaching for a book and throwing it towards George. "He has amazing muscle memory from all those years of signing books. It's a reflex" He says, and to my amazement, the Z actually starts signing the book, though not very well. "I have hundreds of these I'm gonna make tons of money when eBay comes back. I'm gonna be damn rich." He says, yanking the book back.

"Maybe you could your mind thing and help finish his next manuscript." He says, getting excited.

"Maybe" I respond, lying through my teeth. "Is it any good?" I ask, curious.

"They're always good." He responds like it was a fact.

"'Summer is here.', it;s already 800 pages! How long does it need to be?" I ask in disbelief.

"I was thinking of adding 'The End' on the last page. We'll kill everyone in the next book."

"I grab one of the copies and ask if I can have one, which he agrees. I then promptly hit him in the face with it and bolt away, only to stop when I see a throne in the red hallway of death. The sign in front of it is all glittery and has 'The Murphy' written on it. "Not gonna happen! Time to go." I say, then start running towards the exit.

"I have no trouble making you bleed! I can see you sitting on the throne dispensing the wisdom of men, zombies, and all that will come after men!" I hear the nut case yell from where I left him on the floor. I start running up the stairs as quickly as I can, hoping that the man trips or something.

"Mr.Murphy!" I hear, causing me to run faster. "I'll cut you in for a percentage of the gate. That's fair." The man tries to reason, but only making me want to get out of here more. I run through another hallway, looking through the doors as I pass, I then go into one of the doors. "Okay, fine, I can go 10% of concessions, not counting liquor sales." He says, sounding like he's right behind me. "I'll tell you what, I'll throw in the liquor sales, but only after my sweat equity has been recouped."

I finally reach the front door, only to find it locked. "Man, you are a tough negotiator! 20% of all concessions including liquor and we split the George RR Martin book sales down the middle."

"I don't want to be a part of your dumb ass plan, I'm on a mission. Now open the fucking door!" I shout, only to get electrocuted.  
I fall to the ground and after a couple of seconds of pure agony, the man stops pressing the button and starts laughing while a Z comes to the door.

"What else can you make him do? Will he sing if you sing?" he says, only for his face to fall when the Z suddenly dies and falls to the ground showing the kid standing behind it and looking at the man with a blank face. The man hides the remote behind him and starts walking towards the door. He starts electrocuting me and looks at 10K, and they start talking.

Wait, if I can tell Z's what to do, I wonder. . . .

 

**10k's pov**

 "Blueish fella? Is he ill?" the strange man asks. 

"Is there anyone else in this town? Anywhere else my friend could have gone?" I ask, avoiding the question.

"No." the man replies, glancing down at something behind the door. I start walking away and right as turn a corner nearby, I hear something.

'help him'

Where did that come from?! I turn around and look, only to see a Z standing behind me. I whip my knife out and Mercy him only to hear it again. 'Help him' I hear again, only to realize that it's only in my head. The Z still hasn't moved and is looking at me strangely. "Was that you?" I ask, keeping my knife aimed at the Z's head.

'Help Murphy' I hear, then the Z starts walking towards the house I was just at. Is Murphy sending me a message?

'In there' I hear the Z think while it's looking towards the house. I go around the house and slip through a window I silently break and go up the stairs with my gun drawn. I find a room with a bunch of zombie stuff and then up the stairs I find a red hallway with a bunch of Z's in what looks to be display things of some sort. 

 

 

"Murphy?" I call out, looking around and then spotting something that makes my heart stop. Murphy is sitting in a throne with blood being drawn out of him and he's seems to be unconscious. "Murphy, you okay?" I whisper, rushing towards him. I suddenly hear 'behind you' coming from one of the Z's in the display's. I turn around, but I'm too late to dodge the cattle prod from hitting me.

 

 

 

I wake up to the sound of wheels and look around, only to find myself in one of the displays. 

"You bleed slowly. . . anyone ever tell  you that?"

"Yes." Murphy grumbles.

"Well look who's Mr.Agreeable all of a sudden." The man says, standing up from the wheelchair he was sitting in. Murphy takes a glance over at me then quickly looks away, but the man sees it. "Is it because of him? He says, walking towards me. He grabs a sign that was in between us. 

'Mr.Murphy and his amazing zombie boy'

"I want to see what happens when you bite a human. Quit lying to me and show me!" the man says, causing my eyes to widen. 

"No." I whisper, still feeling the affects of the cattle prod. The man puts the sign down and quickly looks at me with rage in his eyes.

* * *

 

Murphy's pov

The man suddenly pulls out a gun and aims it at the kid's head. 

"Do it or the kid dies." He says, looking over at me.

I start to get up and look over at the kid, who looks terrified. "It won't be that bad." I say, trying to calm him down. Suddenly, the kid starts screaming in pain and falls to the ground. I look towards the man with pure hatred, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, hurts MY human.

"Do it,or I'll do worse then that." the man says, holding up the remote. I slowly straddle the kid and lean in.

"No, Murphy, please no. . . ." The kid whimpers, while holding back tears. He tries to push me off, but after the shock he got, he can't. 

"Not on the face, not on the face! Do it on the neck!" The man says, holding up the remote. I turn his head so he won't see what's about to happen and lean close enough to where my lips are just barely touching his neck. The kid goes stiff and starts shaking. I then hear screams, only they're coming from the man, who now has a zombie biting into his neck. I then get up and offer a hand to the kid, who's watching the man get eaten alive. He grabs it and I pull him into my chest, hugging him. His breathing starts to even out after a while and then I help him to the stairs. It seems that the shocks hit him harder then they hit me because he's having a tough time walking. I help him down the stairs and then we find the rest of the gang just outside the house.


	11. RoZwell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another update?! YES!  
> GUYS, ON THIS EPISODE GO TO MIN 10:45 AND YOU WILL SEE 10K IN ALIEN GLASSES!
> 
>  
> 
> WARNINGS  
> 1\. Worried Murphy  
> 2\. Worried Doc  
> 3\. Doc and Murphy bonding over 10K  
> 4\. Odd/ Acting strange 10k  
> 5\. Asshole Vasquez  
> 6\. Jealous 10K

    Murphy's pov

We've been traveling for a couple of days now and I think we're all going a little stir crazy.  Warren's driving and Vasquez next to her and Doc behind him. Next to Doc is me and Addy with 10K sitting on the back of the car. The kid hasn't said more then two words to anyone after the whole thing with that Collector guy.

"We need to get off the road." Vasquez says after turning down the music and unknowingly breaking me out of my thoughts.

"I don't like being so far in Zero's territory, but I guess we really don't have a choice." Warren says, only to have the music suddenly start glitching. I just ignore it, but then I see a body on the ground a little ways ahead. 

"Wait, what's that?" I say, making every one turn and for the kid to turn on a flashlight. We then see a zombie cleanly cut into pieces, still ali- I mean undead.

"That is a new one. . . . . I want whatever did that!" Addy says, only to make 10K flinch. I look over to the kid and see that he's looking at the Z with . . . . sympathy.

"You okay?" I whisper, only to receive a grunt.

The kid then quickly pulls out his pistol and shoots the Z. "4,234. . . . and a third."

"Take the whole kill. You deserve it." Doc says, looking at 10K slightly worried. 

"35" the kid says, crossing his arms laying his head on them. I turn to Doc and we both share a worried look. After a while, the kid suddenly says something odd, "You know they used to find mutilated cattle out here, back Pre-Z."

"Mutilated cattle, like X-Files mutilated cattle?" Warren asks, sending a quick glance towards him. 

"Yeah, my uncle knew all about it. Aliens did it."

"Have you been smoking my Z weed?" Doc asks, looking at 10K. 

"No" The kid says.

"You believe in aliens? That's ridicules, they're pure science fiction!" Vasquez sneers, turning towards the kid.

"Didn't they say the same thing about zombies?" 10K says with a unreadable look on his face. Vasquez tries to come up with a come back but eventually just huffs and turns forward. 

Suddenly, the radio starts making weird sounds that don't sound human and the car stops working, coming to a stop. "What the hell kind of language is that?" I ask, only to receive a glance from 10K, what is that kid planning?

"Sounds like alien cross talk to me." The kid says, retrieving a glare from Vasquez and a snicker from Doc.

"Now you're just saying that to piss me off, aren't you?" Vasquez says, only to have 10K shrug his shoulders. 

"Anybody have eyes on where that light's coming from?" Warren says, looking in the rear view mirror. The light then suddenly shoots past us and stop a little ways a head and the a beam of light comes out of it and we see a vague outline under it. We then hear an explosion, then the light seems to just disappear.

.

.

.

.

"Like I was saying, aliens" The kids says, then the car starts up again.

"Well that was exciting." Doc says, looking around.

"I don't want my apocalypse any more exciting than it already is, thank you." I say while wrapping my coat tighter around myself.

"Someone wanna go ahead and tell me what that was?"

"I'm not saying it was aliens . . . .. . . . . . .  but it was aliens." the kid says, causing Vasquez to turn towards him with a glare.

 

 

We keep on driving, trying to forget about what we all just saw. After morning hits, we stop and try to get our bearings.

"10K, let me see your scope." Warren asks, causing the kid to get down from the top of the car and hand her his rifle. "Let's see if there's something for us to believe in."  she says, scoping out what seems to be some sort of building. "Okay, Addy. You can follow us in this....." she leaves off, trying to name our ride.

"Thing." Doc says, causing Warren to nod in appreciation and thanking him.

"Just in case we need to make a getaway." She stops, looking around a little more before continuing, "Looks like something crashed all right."

"If it was a plane, we should definitely find it and fly it the hell out of this apocalypse. It's a lot faster then driving." Addy says, "No thanks. Last time I got in a plane, it didn't end so well." I say, leaning back against our ride and looking over at Warren. "Does anything in your life?" I hear Addy responde, causing me to glare at her, though without any malice.

"Yeah, well it didn't look like any plane I've seen and we are in Roswell-"

"With a Z." Doc says, interrupting Warren.

We then all head towards the building, though Addy takes the car, and slow down near the wreckage.

"Is this what I'm supposed to believe in?" earning an eye roll from 10K

"Looks like the future!" Doc says, patting the kid on the back.

"Well, it's definitely been here a while. Probably crashed back when everything went bad."

"It's not a plane, there's no wings." The kid adds, staying a little ways away from it. "Maybe a Helicopter or something?" Vasquez ask, kicking a small piece of metal away from him.

"Yeah, but where's the rotor?" Warren asks, causing us all to stop and look at the wreckage in confusion.

"Guys, what is this thing?" Addy asks, looking back and forth between us and the wreckage.

"If anyone says flying saucer, I'm out of here." Vasquez says, glaring at 10K.

"Well it sure looks like a-" Doc starts, only to receive a glare from Vasquez, "-An airborne disk of some kind."

"Well whatever it is, it's not the thing we saw last night so let's keep going." Warren says, causing us all to start walking towards Roswell. We the see some Zs running towards us.

"10K, your up." Warren says, shooting down two Z. The kid pulls out a sling shot with bottle cap, shooting two down in one shot, then when one gets to close, he pulls out a scythe of some kind and hits it down. "4,237"

 

* * *

 

10K'S pov

After a little while, we start riding into town, with me standing in the back, and stop in front of some sort of dinner with a huge UFO on the roof and the windows all boarded up. We get out of the car and Doc warns us of a Z.  "4,238." I say after I kill it. We then circle the building after realizing that some people are inside. We reach an unlocked door and go inside, only to get greeted by a man holding a clipboard.

"Are you here for the Visitors?"

"Visitors?" Warren asks, looking over at the man.

"Um, I think he means...." Murphy says, pointing at the alien head drawn on the wall.

"Have you been touched by Bernadette?" the strange man asks, rushing over to Warren and practically jumping in excitement.

"Who?" Warren asks, looking at the man in confusion. The mans face falls but only for a second.

"Don't worry. I'm Roy. I'll help you with the orientation!" He says, scribbling something on the clipboard. Huh, haven't heard that since my dad's (drunk) friend hit on me.

"Orientation?" Warren asks, starting to get a little frustrated.

"Yeah, for the exodus!" Roy says.

"What exodus?" Vasquez says, taking a step closer to Roy and Warren. Roy seems surprised by this question.

"It's okay to be confused, many new arrivals are. We had a guy from Riverside, Iowa show up, though he was a starship captain." Roy laughs, walking towards Vasquez.

"Are we supposed to understand what the hell you're talking about?!" Murphy snaps, gaining the attention of Roy and causing him to walk up to him.

"You've been drawn here by inexplicable visions of leaving the planet on a chariot of fire, right?" Roy says, causing us all to just stand there and stare. My uncle told me about these types of alien fanatics; avoid at all costs.

"No, we were drawn here by inexplicable visions of finding food and gas." Doc says, causing Roy to scribble more down on his clipboard.

"You didn't have a dream of a large, elongated human form with almond eyes telepathically urging you to come to Roswell at this appointed time?" Roy asks.

"Nope." Warren says while walking by, causing Roy's face to fall again.

* * *

Murphy's pov

"We did see some really strange lights in the sky last night though." The kid says, catching Roy's attention. Nope, this is not happening.

"Everything's strange to you. You grew up in a cave." I say, causing 10K to turn to me and stick his tongue out.

"Well the important thing is that you're not too late! Let me show you around before Bernadette returns. I'll introduce you to your fellow Xtronauts." Roy rambles on while leaving through the door near where we entered.

"Xtronauts? Hey, man. These. . . . . . these aliens that you're looking for, they're not the probing kind, are they?" Doc asks while we follow Roy outside.

"No. We are not abductees. Those people are crazy. We're inductees. We've been invited, not kidnapped. We refer to ourselves as Xtronauts because we will be first humans to explore the alien world!" The clearly delusional man says.

"So, um. How do you plan on doing that exactly?" I ask, being unable to bite my tongue any longer.

"The Visitors are coming to save us from the apocalypse. We have been chosen, and they're almost ready. Just six more days! Bernadette is in close contact with them." Roy says as if that explains everything.

"Bernadette?" Warren asks, looking around for any trouble.

"We've all seen them, but she's the only one they communicate with."

"And Roy, the . .  . .the aliens that you communicate with, do they by any chance use a radio?" Addy asks. Citizen Z, really Addy, really?

"Radio is far to primitive for them. They don't need our technology. They communicate with her telepathically." Roy says, missing the dubious looks from our group.

"Finally," We hear, causing Roy to turn and us to see a blonde woman dressed in all white, "They are here. It's happening just like they said it would. Strangers have arrived." She says while walking towards us and leaning in towards Doc. "Among them will be the one the Visitors are waiting for," she then quickly backs a way and walks towards Warren and Vasquez. "They said he would help us transition to the next reality." She continues while walking over to the kid, whose standing next to me. "And here he is. The Emissary!" she finishes when her eyes look over at me and then hugging me tightly.

 

 

"Oh, oh, okay." I say looking towards the group for some help, but I see the kid  glaring at the woman and his hands are fists. The group around us starts clapping and that seems to snap the kid out of it and he, along with the rest of the group, are looking around in confusion.

* * *

 

10K's pov

When the crowd finally calms down, the go inside with Murphy and our group starts to follow them. "Guys, I'm gonna take watch." I say and start heading for the roof, only to feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see it's Doc and he has a worried expression on his face.

"Kid, you okay?" He asks, looking me in the eyes and then turning to where everyone else went.

"Fine." I say, shrugging his hand off my shoulder and head outside. When I reach the roof, I sit down and put my gun on my lap, ready to shoot at any time.  I stare up at the star on the sign and can't help but let my mind wander. . . . .

The image of that woman hugging Murphy comes to mind and I feel myself tense up and a weird feeling in my chest. It's the same feeling I  got around Serena too, but I can't figure out what it is! It's like anger and something else mixed together, but I've never felt like this before. I hate this.........whatever it is. It only seems to happen when someone's close to Murphy. . .  . . . . .  . . . . wait, no! That can't be right-

I'm broke out of my thoughts by two Z's approaching. I grab my gun and aim for the one in the front,

"4,239" I reload and aim for the second.

* * *

 

Murphy's pov

 

Everyone except me and the rest of our group jumps when a second shot rings out and I see Doc looking worried and looking up at the ceiling. "Whats wrong?" I ask, leaning in so the others can't hear us over everyone else.

"I'm worried about the kid, he's been acting strange since we left that collector guy's house." He whispers back, also leaning in.

"It was pretty intense in there." I say, not wanting to tell him the real reasons the kids been acting weird.

"We hope you like teriyaki chicken!" Roy says while walking in behind two kids, who are each holding a container covered in tin foil. "It's all we have left."

"I'm sure it will be fine, thank you." Warren says, sending us all a warning glare. Roy nods and walks away, leaving us in silence.

After a couple of seconds, Vasquez speaks, "How long we gonna let them think that Murphy's their emissary?"

"As long as they keep giving the emissary food and water, we'll be out of here soon enough."  Warren responds, causing Vasquez to throw the tin of food across the table and land near me.

"Savior of the human race wasn't good enough for you, huh Murphy? Needed to be the alien ambassador too." Addy adds, looking over at me.

"I'm working my way up to Supreme Leader of the Planet." And I already know whose gonna be my queen too.

We all look up when a strange man stops and looks at us all wide eyed. The minute he start getting closer to me, Warren pulls out her gun and slams it on the table, aimed at the man.

"Can I help you?" Warren says, only to be surprised when the man grabs a near by chair and sits at our table.

"Names Dan, Dan Scully. And I bet you don't believe any of this alien exodus crap either, do you?"

"No, we don't." I'm starting to like this guy.

Neither do I. These people are crazy." He says, looking around.

"So what are you doing here?" Warren asks, amusement showing on her face.

"Just passing through when I came upon these folks. They think they've been actually seeing UFO's and this. . . . .  . . Bernadette chick has been talking to them."

"Finally! Someone who knows better." I say, earning a nod from Dan. Dan then gets up and walks off, but not before telling us that the 'Aliens' are already here.

"Okay. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. Time to go!" I urge, then notice the kid walking towards us and sitting down where Dan was.

"What about that aircraft 'thing' we saw? That could fly us out of here."

"There's an Air Force base here actually. They abandoned it back in the 60's, but that's just a cover up story." The kid adds in.

"Well I want to believe in UFOs. I mean if somebody wants to fly my ass off this god forsaken planet, I'm cool with it." Doc adds, eating some off the chicken.

"Are you serious? Are we actually talking about going to an abandoned Air Force base in Roswell to see if we can find a UFO to fly us to California?" I say, looking at each of them in turn.

"Well when you say it like that." Doc says, leaning back in his seat.

"In English?" I ask, looking at him.

"Look. We did see something. And that something was flying, which means there's a ground crew with fuel, food, and communication. And I want to get a look at that base."

"I can show you." We hear, startling the fuck out of us and causing everyone to aim there weapons. We then turn to see Bernadette sitting right next to us.

"Oh my god, how long have you been there?"

"A while."

"Okay, that's not creepy." I say, looking over at the kid, whose glaring at her.

"I can show you where the base is. It's not that far. I go there all the time. That's where they contact me." She says, looking right at me.

"The aliens?" Warren asks, causing Bernadette to turn towards her.

"They prefer the term Visitors."

"Hm, who knows, maybe we'll find a plane and a radio." Warren says, looking Bernadette right in the eyes.

"Or Bigfoot." Vasquez jokes.

"Hey, don't laugh. My uncle had a Sasquatch pelt." The kid says, causing Vasquez to glare at him.

"Come, I'll show you.

 

 

**AN: THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHAPTER SHORTLY, IT'S JUST THAT THIS ONE IS GETTING TOO LONG**


	12. RoZwell part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SEASON 4 HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AND WILL START IN SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!! 
> 
> WARNINGS  
> 1\. Scared 10K  
> 2\. Comforting Doc  
> 3\. Comforting Murphy  
> 4\. Jealous 10K  
> 5\. Worried Doc  
> 6\. Worried Murphy

10K's pov

 

"Those things are really starting to freak me out." Addy says when we see a Z up ahead with a triangular hole in his chest.

"I'd like to know who and what is doing that." Doc says while standing in the back of the truck with me.

"I've seen chainsaws do that, sort of."

"Yeah, that's not human technology. Just saying." I say, causing Vasquez to turn and glare at me.

"The Visitors did this. They were protecting me." Bernadette says, looking over at the Z like it's nothing. I'm really starting to not like this girl.

* * *

Murphy's pov

 

When we finally reach the base, we see that it looks completely abandoned. We get out of the jeep and follow Bernadette into the building. Bernadette walks in without any caution or care and we have to hurry after her.

"Slow down, girlfriend. We don't want to run into any zombies." Warren says, annoyed with the woman.

"Don't worry. They won't let anything happen to me." Bernadette says, calm as could be. I then hear a small growl and turn to see it came from the kid. He's glaring at her and is gripping his gun tightly.

"You don't happen to know if that applies to us too, do you?" Doc says, causing us all go silent and Bernadette to turn and smile at us.  I notice the kid tense up more and he looks ready to strangle her. I quietly go over to him while the others are distracted with asking Bernadette questions and I notice him unconsciously relax when I get closer to him.

"What up with you?" I whisper, causing him to turn slightly towards me, but still paying attention to what the others are saying.

"Nothing, just don't trust her." He says, glaring again at Bernadette. Just as I'm about to ask another question, I notice he's no longer listening to me and has his full attention on the rest of the group.

"Bernadette, you don't know if there's any radio equipment around here that maybe the Visitors may have used?" Warren asks, trying to get something out of Bernadette.

"There's a room with old electronic stuff. There might be a radio in it." She says, causing Addy to perk up.

"Where would that be?"

"Right behind you." Bernadette answers with a tilt of her head. Addy goes back and leaves the rest of us with this strange woman.

"Yeah, we'll check out the radio, why don't you guys see what else you find.

 

After a while, we stop at a hanger that was left wide open.

"Wel-come, E.T"  Doc says, reading the sign made of random stuff.

 

"We didn't find a radio." Warren says, letting Addy add on afterwards

"We did find some Z's though."

"The rest of this place is gutted." Vasquez reports, earning a sigh from Warren.

"Someone's got some nice handwriting, though."

"I did that. This is where they're going to land." Bernadette says, gesturing to the sign.

"What makes you so sure that these aliens are the good guys anyway?" I ask, getting up from where I'm sitting. Warren sends me a glare but it doesn't phase me at all.

"They won't save everyone. Only the ones who've been called. They've seen what we did to ourselves and they don't want us doing it to them. But they believe there's still hope for some of humanity." She responds, causing me to glare.

"You better hope they have a higher opinion of humanity then I do." I say, earning another glare from Warren.

"What about the top secret areas?" The kid suddenly says, causing Bernadette's face to fall. "You know more about this base than you're telling us, don't you?" He continues, taking a step towards her. Bernadette now seems nervous and scared, looking any where but the kid.

"Bernadette, is there some kind of hidden base that you're not telling us about?" Warren asks, getting in front of the kid and crossing her arms.

After a moment of silence, she speaks, "They told me only to bring the Emissary."

"Why?"

"I don't know. That's what the voices say." She answers, looking straight at me.

"The voices?" 10K asks, not at all trying to hide his anger.

"The voices. I hear them, in the light."

"What do the voices say?" Vasquez asks, disdain clear in his voice.

"I don't understand it when I first hear it. Only later does it make sense. I just know what they mean. They want to take us away to a better place. They said it would be soon. They're making repairs but they'll finished soon." She says, getting agitated with all the questions.

"Wow, far out." Doc says, sitting down next to me.

"And what do they want with me?" I ask, getting more and more frustrated.

"They didn't say."

"Maybe you're the alien cure too." Vasquez sneers, causing me to glare at him.

"So how long have you been in contact with these Visitors?" Warren asks, getting closer to Bernadette.

"At first, I was like everyone else. I saw the lights in the sky, but I had no idea what they were. And then one night, I was about to be killed by Zs. I was ready to die, and then the light came and it spoke to me and protected me. They lead me here!" She rambles.

"Can you take us there, this place where you hear the voices?" Warren asks, only to receive silence in response at first, but then Bernadette suddenly agrees. After we reach another and notice some strange ass things, the room starts shaking.

"Earthquake!" Doc yells while we all start screaming and holding on to the nearest thing, or at least, all but Bernadette, whose strapped onto the seat.

"No, it's an elevator! Look!" Warren shouts. Suddenly, I notice that not all of us are screaming. I turn towards the kid and see that he seems to be having some sort of panic attack. I reach over and grab his arm and yank him over to where I am, allowing me to now hear his quick, shallow breaths and he seems ready to faint. I wrap one arm around him, while the other holds on for dear life, and it seems to calm him down slightly.

"You knew this was gonna happen!" Doc yells, looking over at Bernadette, whose as calm as can be.

"You wanted to come along!" Bernadette shouts back.

"How come she has a seat belt!?" I yell, tightening my grip on both my seat and the kid. The lights then suddenly go out and I feel the kid's grip tighten and the hear glass break.

"Damn vending machine." Doc yells, then suddenly we're thrown to the ground, or at least everyone but Bernadette and me and the kid, who realizes the position he's in and hops off my lap, but not before I see his face turn red.

"We're here!" Bernadette says when a 'ding' is heard and the doors open.

"What kind of acid trip fun house elevator ride was that?" Doc asks while the rest of the group gets off the floor. We then exit the elevator and start to go down a hallway, only to have the elevator door slam shut behind us, startling us.

"Guess we're not going back that way." Addy says after finding out the door is locked.

"Well kid. Your uncle was right about the secret base part." Doc says, receiving only a nod in response. I see the kid's face is still slightly red and the minute he makes eye contact with me, he quickly turns away.

"Are we sure we want to do this?" I ask, looking down the hallway.

"He's got a point. It's not worth the risk." Vasquez says, agreeing with me. Not gonna lie, I never thought I'd see the day.

"Tell me you don't want to know what's down here." Warren says, looking over her shoulder.

"I don't wanna know what's down here." I say after I hear some strange things.

"It's them. Those are the voices. They're here." Bernadette says, then bolts further down the hallway.

"Bernadette!" Warren shouts, only for Bernadette to keep going. We rush after her, hoping that this idiot doesn't get herself killed. After a while, we reach a room with steam in it.

"Get ready for anything." Warren warns us as we enter the room. We see Bernadette standing in the room, looking excited.

"They're here. Just like they said. Aren't they beautiful?" She asks, looking at us then forward at something further away.

 

"Well I'll be damned. Just like my dad said."  Warren says, only for the thing to start getting up. Warren points her gun but Bernadette pushes it away.

"They won't hurt us." She says, only for me to get a bad feeling.

"Wait! Something's wrong!" I say, backing up and right as I do, the thing turns and snarls at us. It starts walking towards us and the group starts firing, much to Bernadette's grief. When the bullets seem to not be doing much, the kid steps forward and aims his rifle. The shot goes through the head and the thing falls.

"You killed him!" Bernadette shrieks, then starts rushing over to it. Warren yells 'stay back', but Bernadette doesn't listen. The thing then starts beeping and we start to back away, well, most of us. 10K runs up to Bernadette and shoves her back, then runs back. The thing then explodes, sending guts and blood everywhere.

"Next apocalypse, I'm wearing a paper jumpsuit." Doc says, wiping of some of the gore off of his arm. We then hear faint beeping further down the hall, which Addy volunteers to check out.

"What is it?" Vasquez asks, looking at the mess on the floor.

"Zombie guts? Alien blood? Your guess is as good as mine." Doc says, poking the mess with a pipe.

Bernadette seems to have gotten over her shock, and she's mad. "Why did you kill him?!" She shrieks at 10K. I feel rage rise in me as she continues to yell at him.

"Because that _THING_   was gonna kill you!"

She turns to me, about to say something, but Vasquez interrupts her, "You can't kill what's not alive."

Right after Warren agrees with him, Addy comes back, telling us we need to see something. We follow her down the hallway and turn a corner, only to see a large room with a futuristic looking screen.

"Now that's some Sci-fi shit." Warren says, getting closer to the thing.

After Addy taps something, the screen changes, "It's interactive? Way cool!"

After a couple of moments and a few sarcastic statements, we get down to business. "Can you contact Citizen Z?"

"I can try, at the risk of alerting whoever's on the other side." Addy responds, earning a nod from Warren. After the others leave, Addy starts working on the strange devise.

* * *

10K's pov

"Holy crap, what is this?" I say while taking the strange gun off the corpse.

"Does it work?" Vasquez asks, looking over at it.

"Can't tell if it's out of ammo or batteries." I respond, putting the gun down in disappointment and follow the others. We keep going and find a strange pod of some sort.

"What do you think was in there? That thing we killed?" Vasquez asks.

"I hope so, cause if there's something worse then that, I don't wanna find out." Warren responds.

* * *

Murphy's pov

After going through a lot more images, we find a file on Bernadette.

"Okay, so these aliens are stalkers from space." I say, only for Addy to open another file that has Doc on it.

"Wow, I look like hell."

Suddenly, another file opens up, but the picture confuses us,

[ ](https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/z-nation/images/d/d7/10K%27s_Dad.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20151213211844)

"Who is this?" Addy asks, looking over at Doc, "And why is his file attached to yours?"

"I don't know, I've never seen him before." Doc says, "Why don't we read it?" Addy slides over and opens the file,

 

 NAME:  Derek Shermen

Is considered extremely dangerous by the US government and on the F.B.I watch list Pre-Z due to proving numerous conspiracy theories, along this his son, Thomas 'Tommy' Shermen. He is very protective of his son after his wife had to be killed in a 'clean up' job. Never put his son through School, but taught him everything he knows, which makes the kid just as dangerous.

 

After that it goes on saying about the theories and skill set, but why is he connected to Doc's file?  "Click on the son." Doc says, pointing to the attachment. When she opens the file, everything snaps into place,

 

 

 

 NAME: Thomas 'Tommy' Shermen

 Son of Derek Shermen and is also on the F.B.I's watch list. Never went to school but is highly intelligent in street smarts and has the skills to survive the apocalypse alone for some time.  'Mercy-ed' his father when he turned and later joined the 'West Ward Bond' group......

 

I can't believe the kid was on the F.B.I watch list! I'm brought out of my thoughts when another file comes up and it's mine. It seems they've been watching us a long time.

"Zona, what's Zona?" Addy says when another file opens up, "Maybe it's there home planet!"

 

"Or what they call the pie they're gonna bake us into."

* * *

 

10K'S pov

We walk further down the hallway and see another alien and of course Bernadette tries to talk to it.

"What do you think it wants?" Vasquez asks

"If it's a zombie, it wants brains. If it's a alien, it wants to probe us. Either way, I'm killing it." I say, raising my rifle, only to be blocked by Bernadette.

"No! Don't kill it. Can't you see it doesn't want to hurt us?" She says, then starts walking over to it, despite our protests. We then notice one behind us and Warren and Vaquez start shooting, though it does hurt it. When it reaches them, everything seems to slow down. I take a breath and pull the trigger, killing it. The other one grabs Bernadette and starts running. We try to follow but the one I killed explodes, making it impossible.

"After them!"

 

We reach a stash of weapons and find another one of those guns, fully charged or something. The minute I pull the trigger, it starts humming and I aim it for a Z that just turned the corner, it blows its whole head off.

"I guess that be a yes"

 

We then hear screaming and run to the source, with the gun in hand. After climbing numerous flights of stairs, we find the hanger that we were in earlier.

"We're right back where we started. What was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride for?"

"Visitor's entrance."

"Anybody got eyes on Bernadette or the alien?" Warren asks, eyes scanning the room. I then see some sort of beam of light coming from out side and a silhouette standing in the middle.

"There! I shout, then we slowly approach open door and see that Bernadette is in the middle and the whole city's lights are on.

"You guys will not believe what we foun- WHAT IS THAT!?" Addy shouts while running up to us, Murphy and Doc in tow. The ship then aims a spot light on Murphy.

"Murphy, you okay?" I ask, though it seems he didn't hear me, because he starts walking away. We try to pull him back, but the ship starts firing lasers at us. I notice that Murphy still isn't being himself and stops next to Bernadette. I suddenly get an idea and aim the gun at the ship. A smaller version of that screen from before shows up and focused on the ship, just like a scope. I fire and the second the laser hits the ship, there's a small explosion and the ship's beam starts glitching, turning on and off in a rapid session. I run over to Murphy and start pulling him closer to the hanger while Doc and Addy do the same to Bernadette. We turn just in time to see the ship crash and then explode. After talking to the pilot and bringing Bernadette back to the other 'Xtronauts', we drive away.


	13. We Were Nowhere Near The Grand Canyon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS  
> 1\. Other languages, Navajo. - *Means translation*  
> 2\. Fatherly Doc  
> 3\. Scared 10K  
> 4\. Nervous 10K  
> 5\. Vasquez becomes less of a jackass  
> 6.Possessive Murphy  
> 7\. Drug use

Murphy's pov

"Where are we?" I hear Warren say, surprising me because I thought she was asleep on Vasquez.

"About a hundred miles north of Flagstaff, I'm thinking." Addy answers while looking out the window.

"I dunno how much longer this old bucket of bolts is gonna keep running." Doc says, looking over his shoulder at us.

"Talking about yourself or the rig?" Addy jokes, earning a dry laugh from Doc.

"Both. I think we're getting near the Grand Canyon."

"I went there once when I was a kid. It was beautiful." I say, earning a look from the girls, "What? Can't believe I was a kid once?"

"What's that?" Warren says, ignoring me and going towards the window.

"I've been watching it for a while. I hope it's not what I think it is cuz it's right where we're going." Doc says.

"We need some recon. How's that radio coming?" Warren asks, looking back at Addy and 10K.

"We're about to find out. Okay, yeah." Addy says, signaling for him to put the antenna in place, unknowingly giving me a great view of him. She starts up the thing and starts speaking. "Northern Light. Northern Light. Do you copy? Northern Light, this is Delta Xray Delta. Do you copy?"

"When's the last time you talked to that guy anyway? Probably isn't even alive anymore." I says, earning myself a dirty look from Addy.

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine this morning?" Vasquez sneers, causing me to look his way with disdain.

"Well excuse me, Princess. That's what happens when you haven't had a decent cup of coffee in half a decade." I say, looking at Vasquez, then up at the ceiling,

"Citizen Z, this is your old pal, Addison Carver. Do you copy?"

 

After a while, the fucking van breaks down and Warren goes out to check the engine.

"Well?" I ask, walking out to see.

"If it was a Z, we'd pike it."  Warren says, causing me to groan in annoyance.

"We're awfully exposed out here, I feel like bait." I grumble, walking away.

"Those ATVs gonna run?" Warren asks Vasquez, who is filling said ATVs with fuel.

"This one's got my name all over it." I say, hoping on to one.

"No way in hell am I letting you out of my sight." Vasquez says, hopping on the other.

"Okay, so there's only room for two more. Somebody's got to hightail it." Warren says, causing me to instantly look at the kid. He then looks up at me and seems froze for a second, them quickly looks away.

"Me and Doc can make our way to higher ground on foot." He says, looking down at the ground. He just has to ruin my fun, doesn't he?

"But just don't forget to come back and get us when that mega super horde passes." Doc says, shaking hands with Warren. They head out and Addy gets on the back of mine, letting Warren go with Vasquez.

* * *

10K's pov

I can't get the look Murphy gave me out of my head. I felt like I needed to run, though I couldn't tell if it was from him or to him.

"Looks like you might be getting to ten thousand a lot sooner than you thought." Doc says, breaking me out of thoughts. I look and see dust cloud caused be the horde in the distant.

"Let's get out of here." I urge, starting to run, knowing Doc will follow.

 

 

After a while, we stop and take a break. I notice that Doc's giving me this look, like he's trying to figure something out. "What?" I ask, starting to get annoyed with the staring.

"What was that all about?" He asks, leaning against a large rock.

"What was what all about?" I ask, confused.

"The look Murphy gave you, what was that?" Doc asks, causing me to freeze and stiffen up. He saw that? Crap!

"Um, I don't know what you're talking about." I lie, hoping he buys it.

"Really kid, really? That's what you're going with?" He says, raising an eyebrow. I feel myself loosen up, looking down in defeat. I then look back up, seeing that he's giving me a worried look.

"I don't know." I admit, sitting down against the rock I was leaning on. Doc walks over and sits beside me, putting his hand on my shoulder in comfort.

"It's okay kid, whatever happens, I'll be there for you."

* * *

Murphy's pov

After driving for a little while, we come upon a large white building with a guard standing on top of a bus. He whistles, telling the others inside that somethings happening, a second later, we get shot at.

"Hold it right there!" A man shouts, causing us to raise our arms in surrender. "This is tribal land! No visitors allowed!"

"Our vehicle broke down a way back. We were hoping for a little shelter from the horde of zombies that coming." Vasquez shouts.

"Can't help you. You got to turn around. Go back the way you came!" The man shouts, though before we can, Warren speaks up, catching us all by surprise.

"Yá'át ééh" *Hello*

She gets off the ATV and walks towards the man, arms still raised.

"Yá'át ééh" *Hello* She says again, then continues, "Listen sir, I know we're outsiders, and you have no reason to trust or believe us. But you can believe your own eyes." She says, handing him a scope. The man reluctantly grabs the scope and Warren continues, "Believe me, it's already over the horizon. You have a few hours or less." The man looks, and his face turns to one of surprise and slight horror.

"Come with me."

* * *

 

10K's pov

After continuing on, we come across a steep rock wall. "Holy shit." Doc says, then we starts to climb. Though difficult, we eventually reach the top with only one slip. The view is amazing!

"Makes you feel kinda small, don't it?" Doc says, looking out.

"I guess that's why they call it the Grand Canyon." Though the rest is short lift when we hear a twig snap nearby. We turn towards the noise and see something move in the distance.

"Zombies?" Doc asks, only for another twig snap, this time behind us. We turn that way and see another thing moving.

"I don't think so." Just as I finish saying this, a bolas ties itself around Doc, causing him to fall and hit his head, knocking him out. Just as I'm getting up, I suddenly feel a familiar pain shoot through my body and just before I fall unconscious, I remember what it was. . . . .

 

Electricity.

* * *

Murphy's pov

When we get further into the building, I realized this place is a hotel with a casino. The man then leads us to another area, where we're greeted by an older man.

"Welcome to Northern Quest Casino Resort. My name is Chef Danny Fire Cloud. . . . What's wrong with that ones color?" He says, looking at me.

"Nothing! What's wrong with yours?" I sneer, causing him to start walking over to me.

"Excuse me! Thank you for hearing us out. We actually came here to warn you. That's not just some dust storm out there. This is a solid wall of zombies headed this way." Warren says, causing Danny to turn towards her.

"We've dealt with hordes before."

"I wouldn't be so sure. We've been in contact with Citizen Z, and according to him, this horde is miles deep and it's gonna destroy everything in its path." Warren warns, though the man hardly seems worried.

"Our defenses will protect us." Danny says, causing me to roll my eyes and start looking around, though Warren's next question causes me to listen closely.

"Listen, we got some friends still out there. You think they'll be okay?"

"As long as they make it to higher ground, they should be fine." Danny says, causing me to feel slight relief, though his next statement causes me to slightly panic, "Just hope they don't run into my son."

"Why? What's wrong with your son?" Warren asks, quickly turning back towards Danny.

* * *

Doc's pov

"What are you gonna do to us?" 10K asks, looking back at the people who've taken us.

"You'll be treated exactly how you deserve to be." One of the men say while getting off his horse. Man, why isn't anything ever easy with us? We get lead a little further before we see a camp site of some kind.

"What are they saying?" 10K asks as we walk near some people who are chanting, though it doesn't sound like English.

"Can't make it out. Something in their native tongue." I answer.

"What does zendigo mean?" 10K asks, only this causes the man ahead of us to stop and turn towards us.

"I'll tell you what zendigo means. It's a plague you both carry. White man's disease." What is this man going on about?

"I dunno what you're talking about, but I can assure you we both had our shots." I plead, gesturing back and forth between me and the kid.

"Your people infected us before. Zendigo nearly destroyed my people. We vowed _never_ to allow that to happen again." The man says before going ahead, causing us to start to move again.

 

The minute we reach a certain point, the man start beating on 10K, kicking him in the chest multiple times and punching him in the face.

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time. What are you doing on tribal land? You're trespassing on sacred ground." He growls, hitting the kid again.

"We didn't know anything about it being sacred anything." I plead, hoping to get his attention off the kid, though it seems 10K doesn't know when to shut up.

"We were trying to get away from a zombie mega horde, which is headed straight this way whether you believe us or not." He says, spitting blood out his mouth.

"Your trespassing is the only thing that would lead them to us." The man says, getting ready to hit 10K again.

" _Lead_ them to you? Have you seen that massive crowd of brain eating ghouls? Ain't nobody leading that. All we're trying to do is get out of its way. You people should too." I say, causing the man to stop and walk away from 10K and towards me.

"Leave our land again? Never! I will die here." The man says, then turns towards his people, "This horde is no different than any other that has come before." He continues, earning nods from his men. "These creatures aren't interested in our people, they're only after you. They're a manifestation of your disease." He growls, then picks up 10K by his shirt and shoves him near a wall that has ancient Native American painting on it, only it has graffiti on it too. "You destroy everything you come into contact with. These creatures aren't the plague that can kill us, you are." He finishes with a shove.

"That's enough!" We hear a woman yell, instantly making the man back up from 10K, though reluctantly. We turn and see a woman standing not far away and looks annoyed.

"Gordon, you've got to give this zendigo bullshit a rest." She continues, walking closer to us.

"You know I don't go by that name anymore." The man, Gordon, responds, turning to face the woman.

"If mom was still alive, she'd smack you upside the head. It's great to tap into our heritage and all, but give me a break." The woman says while grabbing 10K's arm and dragging him away, while an older woman does the same to me.

"Where are you taking them?!" Gordon sneers, earning a dirty look from the woman pulling 10K.

"To the infirmary."

 

 

 

 

 

After a little bit, we reach a small area and the women set to work. I notice the kid is holding his chest where Gordon kept kicking him and he has a good sized bruise on his cheek.

"This hurt?" The elder woman asks me while putting something on the cut on my forehead.

"Yes." I respond with a wince.

"How about this?" She asks, moving her hand to another area of the cut.

"Even more." I groan, trying not to wince again.

"Been in a lot of fights, haven't you?"

"You have no idea what a long, strange trip it's been." I respond, earning a small laugh from 10K, though it turns into a couple coughs and him holding his side.

After a little stealthy questions and answers later, we head off for some 'pain relief'. I turn and see the kid's looking up at the sky while this girl is helping him. "Hey kid, don't have too much fun while I'm gone!" I say, causing 10K to turn bright red and grab the bandages from the girl's hand and stutter out that he can finish by himself. The girl looks disappointed, but backs away. Man, that is _**not**   _what I wanted to happen.

* * *

10K's pov

A while after finishing with the bandages around my ribs, Doc comes back, though I'm positive he's on something by the way he's acting.  "Hey, kid. I tell you, you got to go talk to their ancestors. I'm telling you, they're some of the coolest people you'll ever meet." Doc says, twirling around, though suddenly we start getting pushed away from the girls by some of the other, well armed, tribe members.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"You patched them up, now it's time for them to go. Their presence here puts us all in danger. I'm not about to let that happen."

 

Couple minutes later, here we are! Doc's in a net and I'm hanging by my foot and we were left for Z chow.

"I've never seen so many stars, man." I hear Doc say while I'm trying to reach my foot.

"What? Doc, it's daytime." I say, looking over at him the best I can.

"Wow, this stuff is stronger than I thought."

"What is wrong with you?" I ask, glaring over at him.

"Not a thing, man. In fact, I'm more at peace now then before the whole world turned fubar." He says, causing me to slightly wonder if he's dying.

"I'm getting dizzy. We're gonna need to try to get free before I black out." I admit, trying to get him to focus.

"I am already free. This reality is just a cage of our perception, man."

"Doc, you're scaring me."

"It's okay, kid. I'm just creating my own reality here." He says, though before I can say anything, I hear growling that's getting closer. I turn, as much as I can anyway, and see a Z coming towards us.

"Well, in your own reality, is there a Z headed straight our way?" I ask, trying to see.

"Oh yeah. A butt ugly one too." Doc says after a second of looking around.

"Doesn't that concern you!?" I ask, starting to panic.

"Nope." Doc says, chill as could be.

"This is not how I want to die." I state, starting to black out a little.

"It is not our time to die." Doc answers.

"I think I'm gonna pass out." I say, closing my eyes. My eyes then shoot open when I hear something fall to the ground.

"What was that?" I ask, looking around, though I then see that the Z that was coming towards us in now on the ground, dead.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think I killed it." Doc answers, causing me to look over at him in disbelief.

"How?"

"Astral projection." He answers, though we're interrupted by another Z coming towards us.

"Could you do it again?" I ask in desperation. Doc goes quiet for a moment, though the Z is still getting closer.

"I got no idea how I did it the first time." He answers. I then turn and see that another Z coming from behind me while the one before is almost to us. "I hate to tell you this, kid, but I think the peyote's wearing off. Hey you, ugly! Your slips showing!" Doc says, aiming the last part at one of the Z's.

"Doc, what the hell are you doing?!" I ask with a grunt.

"Buying you time. Would you shut up?" He answers, looking over at me, then at the Z and starts to yell at it again. I start reaching for a cleaver that's on the ground, but I can't reach. Suddenly, an arrow goes through the Z's head and goes into the other, killing both. I look and see the girl from early, the one who tried to help me, on a horse and holding a bow.

"What are you? Our guardian angel?" Doc asks her.

"Just someone who hates seeing innocent people mistreated." She says, getting off the horse and pulling a knife from her boot.

* * *

Murphy's pov

"I think I got him." The guy from earlier says, messing around with the radio.

"Delta Xray Delta, this is Citizen Z. Do you copy? Delta Xray Delta, this is Northern Light. Come in, please." We hear, causing Addy to look at me smugly. I guess he's not dead after all.

"Citizen Z, go for Carver." Addy responds.

"Addy, hey. Listen. Battery's low, can't talk long. I got a favor to ask. I'm having a hard time killing this one last zombie. Anybody there know how to fire an AT4 anti-tank missile launcher?" He asks, causing Warren to grab the thing you talk into from Addy.

"Hey, CZ. This is Warren. I can talk you through it. Is it in front of you?" Warren asks.

"In my hand."

"Locate the firing pin assembly cover on the bottom of the tube opposite of the site. Don't open it yet." Warren continues, though I'm pretty sure he opened it. "Then you need to arm it by extending the inner aluminum tube. Now do you see the locking ring on the front and back of the tube? Turn those opposite ways."

After a minute, he responds, "Locked and loaded. How do I fire this thing?"

"Fold up the site. Slide back the trigger guard till it locks. With the tube on your shoulder, us the site to aim and pull the trigger. Then watch out. That missile can knock out a M1 tank."

After a moment, we hear nothing, "It did not fire. Repeat. It did not fire."

"The battery's just cold. Flip over the firing tube. Open the battery housing."

"Got it, now what?"

"You need to place the battery someplace warm." She says, then the line goes quiet. A couple of seconds later, we still hear nothing and Warren starts getting nervous.

"Citizen Z? Citizen Z?!"

 

After a little while, I hear approaching foot steps, though I don't look up.

"Doc! 10K! You guys!" Addy suddenly yells, causing all our heads to shoot up. Addy runs to them and I look the kid over, noticing the bruise on his cheek.

"Well thank God for small favors. Get over here!" Doc says, hugging Addy.

After helping CZ kill the last zombie and leaving the hotel, though without Danny, and arriving at the cliffs, we are welcomed by the leader, who turned out to be Danny's son. We then watch the zombies fall into the grand canyon, causing me to feel ever emotion. We finally leave this place, but the kid keeps staring the direction of the grand canyon with a saddened look on his face.


	14. Corporate Retreat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS  
> 1\. Hurt Murphy  
> 2\. Scared 10K  
> 3\. Worried 10K  
> 4\. Uncomfortable 10K  
> 5\. Doc and Addy knows what's up ;)
> 
> ALSO, 10K IS 19 NOW, HE WAS 15 WHEN BLACK SUMMER HAPPENED.

**Murphy's pov**

We're trying to get into a building we found, but the doors seem to be jammed, but suddenly someone appears on the other side.

"Open up or you'll be sorry!" Warren shouts, aiming her gun at the man on the other side of the door. The man opens the door and moves to let us in, "Thank you."

The minute we step through the door, we hear the sound of multiple guns and turn to see a group aiming all of them at us.

"Welcome." A man says, leaning on some sort of thick stick. We walk in, taking the guy that opened the door as hostage. and aim at the group.

"Lower your weapons!" Vasquez says, aiming right at the man who's leaning on the stick.

"Turn around and go back the way you came." Another man from the other group says, aiming his weapon at Vasquez.

"Look! We don't want to hurt you, but we cannot turn around. There are way too many Zs out there." Warren says, pushing the hostage way.

"Not much oxygen either." Doc says, only to be interrupted when a Z bangs on the door.

"Who's in charge?" Warren asks, putting her hands on her hips.

"My name is Gideon Gould," The man leaning on the stick says, "I'm the facilitator here, but we don't really have a leader. Cuz everyone here participates in our decision making." He finishes while coming down the stairs, not even flinching at our weapons when there pointed at him.

"Great. We just need some shelter until the smoke clears and some of the zombies move on." Warren says, walking up to Gideon.

"Okay. Well I think in order for us to put together a mutually beneficial agreement, we're gonna have to create a little framework of trust here." Gideon responds, gesturing to the guns we currently have aimed at him.

"Buddy, I'd have a lot more trust if you all pointed your weapons some place else." I say, glaring at the people on the stairs.

"Sure." Gideon says after a long pause, "It's okay, everybody." He says to his people, who hesitantly start putting there guns away.

"What you got in mind, Mr. Gould?" Warren says to him when he turns back around towards us.

"Popcorn circle process?" A random woman from the stair case says, causing Gideon to smile at her.

"You know what? That's exactly what I had in mind. That's a great idea. Yes, ma'am. Come on down here." Gideon says, causing the others to start coming down the stairs.

"What the hell is it? Movie night?" I ask, only earning a shrug from the rest of the group.

"May I?" The woman from before asks Gideon, gesturing to the stick he's holding.

"Yes, ma'am. Gideon responds, giving her the stick and receiving a thanks in turn.

"Don't worry. It's not a weapon. It's a tool. We call it the talking stick. We use it to facilitate dialogue." The woman says to us after noticing our nervous looks. The woman then starts walking towards the others before speaking again, "When we make decisions, we pass it around the circle like a bowl of popcorn. Only the person who is holding the stick is allowed to speak. It makes it _so_ much easier to be heard."

"Speak softly? Carry a big **(COUGH)** log." Doc says, causing the woman to look over at him.

"Except for this stick is used for peaceful conflict resolution and communication. Doctor Gould-"

"Gideon, please." Gideon interrupts, catching our attention again. "I know it's funny. We don't really get many visitors here." He continues, earning laughs and agreements from his people.

"Gideon was a-" The woman starts, but then stops her self, "I'm sorry, _is_ a world renowned expert in corporate communication and conflict resolution. We were all at his seminar in the hotel when the outbreak happened. We would _all be dead_ if we didn't have a way to communicate." The woman says, only to be startled by a Z running into the door. "It's a way to build trust."

"Thank you." Gideon says when the woman hands him back the stick. "Hopefully we can all build enough trust here that we'll all lower our weapons, okay? We're gonna play a little quick game here. It's called honesty inventory. I give you my first impression of all of you _without_ filtering anything. So let's see." Gideon says, walking up to Warren and causing Vasquez to raise his gun and aim right at Gideon's head.

"You. You are the leader. You're a natural and you have a wisdom, but it's born from loss." He says, then turning towards Vasquez, how still has his gun aimed at him.

"You are the enforcer, brother. You're tough, but your scars can cloud your judgment." Gideon says, then looking over at Addy, who seems anything but impressed.

"You're the strong one, but there's a lot of loss in those eyes. I think it's more than you can handle. She relies on you." Gideon says, pointing over at Warren. Gideon then walks over to Doc.

"Brother sir, you've got a face that's etched with sadness and yet . . . . . somehow . . .  . you've managed to keep your sense of humor." He says, then hugs Doc, who looks uncomfortable.

I feel myself tense when he walks closer to 10K. "Son, you've seen a lot of pain and violence in your short life, more than most. You never really had a childhood, did you? You were surrounded by lies and violence at a very young age, yet somehow, you've still got a good heart. You're also burdened by some sort of secret, something that could change everything, yet you still keep quiet." Gideon says, ignoring the glare from 10K.

Gideon then turns towards me, causing me to glare at him. "You got the weight of the world on your shoulders, don't you? I can see it, in your eyes. You do more for these people then they realize, and you never really get the respect that you deserve either." He says, then walks towards the middle of the group. "Let's let everyone look around you now. I think we've all taken a really big step in resolving this conflict. It's all about process dialogue and filling the pool of shared meaning. I told you guys a story and then it resonated with you, hopefully, and now we have a common narrative which, of course, is the basis of trust. What do you think?" Gideon asks Warren, holding out the stick.

"We'll stand down."

"Gee, now the we're all friends and stuff, maybe we could get some food? I'm starving." I say, earning a look from Warren.

"Is he alright?" Gideon asks Warren, looking over at me.

"Vitamin deficiency." Warren responds, assuming he's talking about my skin.

"Okay. You know what I think we should do, guys? Let's do a process committee. Why don't we do like two from each group and we'll all discuss specifics. Who would you like to join you to represent your stakeholders?" Gideon asks, turning towards Warren.

"Addy." Warren says immediately, causing Addy to step forward.

"And I think our stakeholders will be represented by myself and Dana." Gideon says, gesturing to the woman from earlier. "Alright, thanks everybody." He continues, walking out of the room with everyone else following behind him. I then notice that Vasquez also stayed behind, causing me to turn towards him.

"I smell food. All this corporate double speak is making me hungry." I say, folding my arms against my chest.

"Yeah, well sit tight. Warren and Addy are negotiating for food right now." Vasquez says, walking away.

* * *

 **Doc** **'s pov**

The kid and I follow the guy who let us in, Iggy, into the kitchen, or at least where the food is stored.  "Voila!" Iggy says when we reach the kitchen, "Couldn't defend the whole. So. . . . Oh!" Iggy says, getting distracted by a stain on the counter. "Sorry, We abandoned the rooms to the zombies!" He continues, walking over to another counter.

"Kinda like a zombie roach motel." I say, earning a laugh from Iggy.

"You guys been here the whole time?" The kid asks, causing Iggy to look towards him.

"We though about going. At least I have, but the group always vote me down." Iggy sighs, but then continues, "My company sent me here for a weekend retreat to work on my people skills. That was four years ago." He finishes, putting a jar near me so I can see whats inside.

"Gibson Onions?" I say, surprised they even have those.

"May I?" The kid asks, gesturing towards the water. Iggy quickly rushes over and pours him a glass.

"Wish that was gin!" I say, earning an eye roll from 10K.

"I never stayed in a hotel before. You guys have a pool? I always wanted to swim in a pool." The kid says, causing me to look at him. This kid never even got to go in a pool? That's sad.

"You're drinking it." Iggy says, causing the kid to pull the glass away from his mouth. "Don't worry. We filter and boil everything." Iggy says while walking over to a strange contraption. "This is my masterpiece." He continues, pride clear in his voice. "Let me show you where we keep the food under lock and key." He starts, skipping down another hall that leads to a freezer door and opening it. "We lock up all the food since we discovered some was disappearing. I do all the cooking and cleaning and....."

  
"A regular cinder fella?" I ask, causing 10K to (again) roll his eyes. I peak my head through to see the food and then back away, letting Iggy to shut and lock the door.

"I even clean up after the janitor." Iggy continues as if I didn't say anything. "Guess I should be glad I'm alive. This way!" He says, walking back to where we were before. "Why  don't you guys relax in the  ballroom?" Iggy says, pointing down another hall. "And I'll see if I can scare up any blankets."

 

After about a half an hour, I'm in the ballroom, the kid left a little while ago to look around, and I hear a gun shot. I head towards the sound of the shot and meet 10K in the hall and a little further, we see everyone else crowding around a door way. "Murphy. . . " We hear Warren say, causing the kid's eyes to go wide. We push through and see that Murphy and another guy were both shot. The kid seems to be in shock judging by the way he freezes completely with a look of fear in his eyes. I jump into action and push the others a side and tell them that we need to move them.

 

After we put the two on tables that were nearby, I start unbuttoning Murphy's shirt in order to work on the wound. "Looks like he's still alive." I say when I notice that the kid looks ready to pass out.

"He's bleeding bad." Warren says, unknowingly causing the kid to start shaking.

"Greg's been shot. God, right in the heart. He should be dead, man." Gideon says, trying to treat this 'Greg' guy's wound.

"What happened!?" Iggy says as he runs into the room.

"Iggy, get the door. Okay, we're gonna move them out to the bar, there's more light over there. Danny, get the first aid kit." Gideon orders his people, causing them to snap into action.

When we set them on the -now cleared away- bar tops and set them down. 

"Warren!" We hear Addy shout as she runs into the room.

"10- Warren, make sure nobody leaves, Addy, cover this door." Vasquez orders, seemingly noticing the state 10K's in. 

"Who put you in charge?" One of Gideon's people sneer, causing Vasquez to glare back at them.

"I did. I was a cop for ten years. This is a crime scene. Someone tried to kill our prisoner." Vasquez says, earning surprised reactions from Gideon's people at the word 'prisoner'.

"I can't stop the bleeding!" Dana says in a panic while trying to cover Greg's wounds.

"You need to mercy him!" Vasquez orders, pointing at Greg.

"Wait, he's not turning." Dana pleads, putting herself between Vasquez and Greg.

"You can't mercy him before he's dead." Gideon says, looking up at Vasquez with a glare.

"There's no time to discuss this!" Vasquez growls, pointing his gun right at Greg's face, causing someone else to point a gun at him.

"Hey, hey, hey! We have to process this without violence." Gideon pleads, causing Warren to turn towards him with a glare.

"We can talk about this later. What you need to do is tie up your man and secure him before he turns or I will mercy him myself." Warren growls, causing Gideon to back down and agree. "How is he?" She asks me.

"Well the bullet went clean through. I'm more worried about this nasty head wound. He must have cracked it when he fell. He's defiantly got a concussion, maybe worse." I finish, looking over at 10K to make sure he's okay. I see that he has calmed down a little, but he still seems pretty panicked.

* * *

 

**Murphy's Pov**

 I wake up in what appears to be the grand canyon. Suddenly, I hear zombies behind me and I turn, only to see what looks to be the mega horde running full speed at me. They start running in to me and I start to get pushed backwards until I eventually fall.

* * *

 

**10K's Pov**

Vasquez has started taping up Murphy's wound and I just watch. I can't believe I-we might lose Murphy.  Suddenly I'm broken out of my thoughts by Gideon's voice. "Dana, we need to interface." He says, causing Dana to turn towards me.

"Please don't mercy him before he's dead." She pleads, causing me to nod. Dana seems satisfied with my answer and walks away.

"Unless something unforeseen happens." Doc says, looking over at Greg with a grimace. 

"What do you think?" Warren asks, leaning against a nearby door frame.

" Well, I only heard one shot," Vasquez says, looking over at me for confirmation.

"Yeah, me too." I say, looking back towards Warren.

"So we have one bullet and two victims. Judging by the bullet's trajectory, the shooter was here." Vasquez says, again look over at me. "You're our best shot, that sound right to you?" He asks, earning another nod after I look at the wounds again. "He surprised Murphy, sees the food, fires once. The bullet hits Murphy in the shoulder, continues on, hits victim number two in the heart." He finishes, causing me to nod in agreement.

'"Now wait, hold on. You're telling me that the bullet passed through Murphy and hit this dude in the heart?" Doc asks, earning a nod from both me and Vasquez. "Well no wonder he ain't turning." Doc continues, opening one of Greg's eyelids. "He's looking just like Cassandra." Doc says, looking over at me.

"You better keep your eye on him." Warren warns, earning an agreement from Doc.

"Hey guys?" We hear Gideon say, followed by the sound of something heavy and wooden hitting the ground. "Okay, everybody. Could I ask you to come in here and join us in the trust circle? We're gonna resolve this conflict peacefully. Without Violence."

"Well that's not gonna be easy, considering one of you just shot one of us." I growl, earning shocked and angered looks from Gideon's people.

"Do you have any proof of that?" One of Gideon's men sneer, causing me to growl, which causes the man to back away.

"Okay, listen. Everyone. Violence can spread like wildfire. It just takes one spark to burn down the bridges of trust between all of our fellow human beings." Gideon announce while our group gets closer the the others. "And once it's started, a fire doesn't care about who it burns. I know we can resolve the issues between us."

"The issue between us" Warren says, yanking the stick out of his hands, "The issue between us is that one of you shot Murphy." Warren finishes with a growl.

"Imvume(1)" A girl says, causing Warren to give her the stick. "You said Murphy was your prisoner. Maybe he tried to escape and one of you shot him." The girl says, causing me to glare at her.

"Okay, Meg. Meg, thank you." Gideon says, grabbing the stick back. "Will you please sit down?" Gideon asks us, though we don't move. "We all have to trust." Gideon says, this time causing us to sit down, though slowly.

"Imvume" Another one of Gideon's people say, causing Gideon to hand the stick over. "I saw him sneaking around where the shooting happened." The man says, gesturing towards me. Everyone turns towards me with looks in there eyes that say that they believe him.

"Imvume" Another guys says, grabbing the stick. "I saw him there too, right after the shot was fired. He was acting suspicious." The second guy finishes, causing me to look over at Warren and see that she is looking at me.

"Thank you," Gideon says, taking the stick back. He then approaches me and I stare right at him. "So clearly there's some unresolved conflict between you and Murphy.

"10K doesn't miss." Addy says, coming to my defense, though she's stopped by Gideon who tells her to 'Hold on'. Dana gets up and takes the stick from Gideon and hands it to Addy, who seems surprised. Addy eventual takes it and stands up. "If 10K wants something dead, it's dead. And he would _**never**_ try to kill Murphy. Kick him in the nuts a few times, maybe. But. . . . he would never try to kill him." Addy finishes, handing the stick back to Gideon.

"Do you care to defend yourself?" Gideon asks me, causing me to shake my head and take the stick.

"Why should I? Addy already said everything to it." I say, handing the stick back.

"Why should we believe you?" The first man says, yanking the stick out of Gideon's hands.

"Because he didn't fire that shot." Vasquez says, coming out of no where and dropping a duffelbag full of food on the floor. "One of you did."

"My God. Look at all that food." Meg from earlier gasps.

"It's more than 100,000 calories there." man number one says.

"Found this hidden on top of the cabinet near where Murphy was shot." Vasquez says, gesturing towards the bag.

"We knew someone was stealing the food, but we though they were eating it." Another man says, earning mumbles of agreement from the others.

"Sounds like someone has a getaway stash. Murphy must have stumbled upon it and got shot. Vasquez say, causing everyone to go silent.

"Well it turns out to be true that one of us has been stealing food. It's our agreed upon policy that the punishment is immediate banishment. Now there's only one person, other than myself, who has access to our food supply." Gideon says, causing everyone to look at Iggy.

"I didn't do this." Iggy stutters.

"Where were you when the shots were fired? Did anyone see you?"

"I didn't steal that food!" Iggy pleads, nearly crying.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Meg says, causing Iggy's head to whip towards her.

"That was a few candy bars more than a year ago and I've been on lower rations since." Iggy shouts, pleading towards everyone.

"You sure don't look like you've been on 900 calories a day." A guy says, causing Iggy's face to turn red with anger.

"What are talking about?" Iggy growls, though Gideon calls his name and earns his attention.

"Ignatius. We've had these issues with you before. You're the only one with a key and you made it clear for a long time that you wanted to leave." Gideon continues, causing Iggy to get more and more panicked.

"I wanted all of us to leave! This place is a death trap!" Iggy screams, causing some of the others to back up.

"Iggy, brother, if you want people to start believing what you say, you got to start telling the truth." Gideon says, causing Iggy to start breathing heavily. "The Truth!" Gideon shouts after a minute of no response, hitting Iggy in the gut with the stick.

"I am telling the truth, you bastard!" Iggy says, then suddenly tackles Gideon. Two guys pull Iggy off of Gideon and Iggy starts crying, even more so when Gideon takes the keys.  
"Please, don't do this!" He begs, though it's ignored.

"Washington, secure the food in the kitchen and keep it under guard." Gideon says while handing another guy the keys. Gideon then turns back towards Iggy, "You made your decision for us, Iggy."

"Please, don't do this." Iggy cries, though again it is ignored.

"We can not tolerate any violence." Gideon says as the others lead Iggy towards the main lobby.

"What makes you so sure he's the guilty one? Where's your proof?" Vasquez demands, following Gideon.

"He knew the consequences." Gideon turns around and says.

"Look, if you send him out there now, that's a death sentence. He'll be killed and turned for sure." Warren says, trying to save Iggy.

"Oh, okay. Anything else you want to say before you leave?" Gideon sneers at the struggling Iggy.

"Bite me!" Iggy responds, causing them to push him out. I can't watch this anymore. I turn and run up the stairs followed by Iggy's pleas for help.

* * *

**Doc's pov**

I'm taking care of Murphy when 10k suddenly runs into the room with a look of disgust and horror. He tells me what happened and I can understand his look now. Warren comes in and 10K leaves, saying he needs to be alone. "How's he doing?" Warren asks, looking over at me.

"Murphy or 10K?" I ask, not really knowing which one she's asking about.

"Both."

"Well, 10K's pretty upset about Iggy and the everything else." I answer, earning a nod in response.

"And Murphy?" She asks.

"Not so good, Chief. I got the bleeding stopped, but he still hasn't regained consciousness. He just keeps moaning like that, like he's having a bad dream." I says, followed by a moan and shudder **(AN: Get your heads out of the gutters!)** from Murphy.

"As soon as he can travel, we got to get the hell out of here." Warren says, walking towards the boarded-up windows.

"Well we're gonna have to wait till the swelling goes down and he's conscious. If we try to move him now, it could kill him." I finish, looking up at Warren.

"And what about this guy?" Vasquez asks, gesturing towards Greg's body.

"Oh man, check this out. The thing about the bullet passing through Murphy and hitting this guy in the heart blew my mind you know. Got me thinking, if that tiny amount of Murphy blood could keep this guy from turning, what would a little bit more blood do?" I say, earning a glare from Warren. "I know, I know. But it's the apocalypse. I figure go for it, right? So I've been soaking this rag in Murphy blood and letting Greg here suck on it.

"Doc. . . " Warren says, disapproval in her tone.

"I know. Bad idea, right? But check it out. He's getting better. His fever broke, he's breathing normally, which I don't know how the hell you do that when you got a hole in your chest the size of a silver dollar. And look at his skin. It's turning that pretty blue, just like Murphy." I say, causing Warren to look over the guy.

"Wow, this Murphy shit is real, isn't it?"

"Sure looks like it, Chief." I agree.

 

 After finding out that take over was planned, Murphy waking up, and the hotel getting run over by Z's, we head to the border.

 

 

**AN: SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT AND SHITTY ENDING, BUT THIS CHAPTER WAS GETTING OUT OF CONTROL AND I REALLY WANTED TO GET TO THE NEXT PART,**

**SEE U NEXT TIME,**

**JADE FLAME ;)**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) - a rule associated with an object to regulate which users can gain access to the object and in what manner. Permissions are assigned or denied by the object's owner.


	15. Party With the Zeros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait everyone! School is a bitch! >:)
> 
> Warning:  
> 1) Possessive 10K  
> 2) Possessive Murphy  
> 3) Murphy scaring Kurian
> 
>  
> 
> (A) Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte or, colloquially, Santa Muerte, is a female folk saint venerated primarily in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees.

**Murphy's pov**

We finally reach the Mexican border and we find out the it's been over run by Z's. We leave where we were pinned down after Vasquez shoots the Z's blocking the door. We run out, or in my case limp, towards the border. As we go, Warren and Vasquez lead and shoot the Z's that get too close while 10K covers our backs.

"Spread out!" Warren orders, causing 10K and Vasquez to split away while Doc and Addy help me run with Warren guarding us. We rush into a nearby house and close the door behind us. We go through the halls, clearing out Z's as we find them, and head out the door on the other side. We meet back up with Vasquez, but 10K is no where to be seen.

"Hold up, hold up." Warren says, putting her arm out in front of us. We see a group of Z's approaching us and Warren tells us to move again, though quietly. We meet 10K nearby and run forward. "Hold!" Warren says after a couple of minutes of running. A few seconds later, we continue running. We pass most of the Z's but have to shoot some along the way.

"This really the border?" The kid asks when we stop to take a break for second.

"About 2000 miles of it. No way around." Vasquez answers, looking around.

"No way over." Addy adds.

"No way back." The kid finishes, shooting a Z that was getting too close.

"Here comes the goon squad." Doc says, pointing to the horde that's getting closer.

"Ammo?" Warren asks.

"About half a clip." Vasquez responds.

"Three." Addy announces.

"Four and three in my pocket." The kid shouts, aiming towards the horde that's quickly approaching.

"Don't look at me." Doc says.

"One." Warren answers, "Save your ammo." She orders,  grabbing me. "Hey, if your the zombie messiah, now's the time for a miracle."

I try to control them, but it's too much and I fall to my knees. "Murphy!" I hear the kid shout, running over to me. Suddenly, there's explosions going on around us and ropes come down from a near by roof. Men in uniforms come down and start blasting.

We then hear a whistle and turn, only to see Escorpion waving us over. "Down here!" He yells from a trap door.

"You said it was time for a miracle." Doc says to Warren. We then look up and see that the Z's are getting closer.

"Hey, do you wanna die?!" Escorpion shouts, gaining our attention again.

After a second, Warren grabs my shoulder and starts leading me and the other towards the trap door. Once we all get into a tunnel of some sort, the lights come on and we now see that we are surrounded by Zeros pointing guns at us, causing us to aim ours as well.  "In the name of La Reina de los Muertos, Queen of the Zeros Cartel, I strongly suggest you lower your weapons." Escorpion says.

"Like the Z Weed Zeros?" I ask, still feeling the effects of the gun shot from the hotel.

"That would be us." Escorpion asnwers.

"Then I believe you are looking for me." I say while walking closer to Escorpion. "I am The Murphy."

"This man is _our_ prisoner." Warren growls as she comes closer, "That CDC bounty is ours. If you try to take him away from us, I will blow his brains out." Warren threatens, aiming her pistol at my head. I see the kid look away from the Zeros quickly, though not moving his rifle, and glare at Warren. "El Murphi isn't worth a damn if he's dead. Now **back off**!" Warren finishes with a growl.

"Just wanna make sure he's the real Murphy." Escorpion says, causing me to roll my eyes. 

"You wanna see the scars?" I ask, nodding towards Escorpion.

"I do." He responds.

"Not until you lower your weapons." Warren orders, keeping her gun trained at my head.

After a moment of silence, Escorpion responds, "Put them down." Causing the rest of the Zeros to lower their weapons in defeat, though they keep them ready. 

After I show them the bites on my torso, Escorpion responds, "It is true then. If you lower your weapons, you have my word you will be safe." He says, though none of us do. "Look. If I wanted you dead, we would have left you out with the zombies, but La Reina is looking for you. She will give you the reward." He finishes, causing us to look at one another. 

"Remember the mission." I say towards Warren, who nods at the others, causing them to lower their weapons. 

 

After a couple of minutes walking down the tunnel, Addy makes a comment, "What is that smell?"

"The future. We've found a way to pay for the new world. We no longer have enemies. We have resources." Escorpion responds, then bangs on some sort of barrel, causing growls to come from said barrel. 

"So you just leave your resources down here to rot?" Warren asks, looking at the barrel with disgust.

"We let them compost. Composting creates heat. Heat creates energy." Escorpion explains, grinning at Warren.

"Zombies for fuel. Clever." Doc says, starting to walk down the tunnel again, followed by everyone but the kid and I. I see the kid is glaring at the barrel with pure hate in his eyes, causing me to walk over to him and nudge his shoulder, getting is attention. I then gesture towards the way the rest of the gang went, causing us to follow them.

* * *

 

10k's POV

 

"What's this?" Warren asks when a Zero opens a door leading outside. 

"The future." Escorpion responds, walking out the door with us in tow. We walk out and see healthy trees and hear birds singing, making this place seem peaceful. "Welcome to Mexico. It's a great privilege for you to see this place. I bet you're glad we dug tunnels underneath the border, aren't you?" He continues, leading us somewhere further into Mexico. I got to admit it, this place is really nice.

"Unbelievable." Warren mutters, looking around.

"We've been tracking you for a while. Every time there's some crazy bullshit going on, it's you people. It's not hard to follow you, what's hard is guessing what you're gonna do next. Lucky for you, one of our drones spotted you shortly before a zombie knocked it out of the air." Escorpion answers. Wait, how did a Z knock something down in the sky?

"So this La Reina person-" Warren starts but I help her.

"La Reina de los Muertos." 

"So this La Reina de los Muertos, Queen of the dead, she'll give us the bounty?" Warren continues, giving me a look of gratitude.

"She will. And it won't be that bullshit bounty the CDC will pay you." Escorpion says, causing Warren to nod and respond,

"Then I guess we should meet." 

"That's a wise choice."

 

We're lead towards a building and a woman dressed all in black comes out with her arms crossed and whispers something into Escorpion's ear. He then turns towards us and announces, "La Reina awaits your presence." We are then brought into a garden and see a woman with face paint on, her hair done up, and wearing all black.

 

 "Mi Reina" Escorpion says, getting the woman's attention. She turns and looks at Murphy and Warren and gains a smile on her face.

"EL Murfi. The savior. I have been looking for you for a very long time. And you must be Roberta Warren- excuse me, Lieutenant Roberta Warren." Reina says, holding a single pink rose in her hand as she reaches Murphy and Warren. 

"I am." Warren responds.

"You are the leader of this group? The one who brought me my Murphy?" Reina asks. I feel my grip tighten on my gun when she says the word 'mine'. She hasn't even known his for five minutes and she's saying things like that?!

"Yes." Warren responds after looking over at Murphy. 

"Impressive." Reina states while handing Warren the rose. "Leave it to (A) Santa Muerte to work for a woman. I've sent dozens of my best men searching for El Murphi to bring him to me and you're the only one who was able to accomplish this." Reina says, then looks over at Murphy, "And _you_ are very slippery prey." She continues while circling Murphy. 

"You said you have been looking for me. Sent your men to hunt and capture me. Care to tell me why?" Murphy asks, sending a creeped out look towards us. 

"No." Reina says, then pauses before continuing, "I'd rather show you." She finishes and then walks over to the rest of us. "You don't need no weapons here."  Warren sends us a look and we start removing our weapons.

"Don't hurt yourself." Addy tells the guy as she hands her bat over to him. We follow the strange woman further away from the exit and she starts talking,

"When the rest of the world descended into chaos, we survived. And we found our true purpose. We have a bounty of resources at our disposal."

"Yeah, Escorpion told us all about your resources." Warren explains.

"I wouldn't believe everything that mi Escorpion says. He's prone to exaggerate and he likes to intimidate people. Perhaps that's why the people look to me for inspiration and hope." 

"Hope?" Murphy mutters, walking right next to me.

Reina comes to a stop and turns to look at Murphy, "Yes, Mr. Murphy. Hope. You see, like me, you, too, survived for a reason. Please. This way." Reina says, turning away. 

 

After a while, we walk into a dark building. "You're blood is the cure, is it not? What good is a cure if you can't get it to the people? Only the Zeros have the ability to distribute narcotics globally. I'll get the vaccine to the people and restore order to the world. My doctor has been working night and day to develop the cure. We are very, very close. This is the heart of all my efforts. All we need is the blood of El Murfi to make my dreams of creating a cure a reality."

We then enter a lab of some sorts that has a bloody body covered with a white cloth on the lab table. "Welcome to my laboratory." Reina says. We look around for a minute or two and then another door opens and out walks somebody we all thought was dead.

"Murphy." Doctor Kurian says, causing us to freeze.

"Kurian." Murphy responds, glaring at the man. 

"You son of a bitch." Addy whispers, looking right at Kurian. 

"So this is where the Zeros took you. I thought they were gonna kill you. Glad they didn't. Now I can do it myself." Warren says, then lounges for Kurian, but Addy stops her.

"You two know each other?" Reina asks, looking at Kurian and then Warren.

"You hear about the nuclear strike in Colorado?" Warren asks, still glaring at Kurian.

"Colorado? That's where you disappeared with all my research and my money?" Reina says, looking over at Kurian.

"You brought me here to atone. I am atoning." Kurian says, then goes silent for a moment, "And look, here he is."

Reina then walks over to Warren, "Lieutenant, I understand you. If someone tried to kill me, I would not rest until I took my revenge, but you're not going to kill my doctor, are you?" Reina asks, raising one of her eyebrows.

"No." Warren responds after a moment or two of silence.

"Why not? I would." Reina says, causing Kurian to look shocked.

"Because you took my gun." Warren responds, causing Reina to start laughing. 

"Yes, I did." Reina says after she calms down and starts to walk away from Warren, " But something tells me, a smart woman like you, a team who've traveled thousands of miles across the country, crossed a border, can make weapons out of just about anything, huh?" Reina finished, causing everyone to look at me for some reason.

 

 

 "Yes" Warren replies as everyone looks back at Reina. 

"So tell me, why do you not take your revenge?" Reina asks, walking closer to Warren.

Warren then lets out a breath before answering, "Because he _might_ be the only one who can synthesize a cure."

"Yes." Reina says as if she got the answer she was hoping for, "Very good." Reina then lets out a breath before continuing, "I know how frustrating this is. It seems like sometimes to save humanity, we have to put up with a few disagreeable men, hmmm? That is going to change." Reina finishes, then walks over to Murphy. "Now, _this_ one. It is no ordinary man who will sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity. Santa Muerte is going to smile upon you, Mr. Murphy, and you are going to bless us with your presence until the end of our days." Wait, who said anything about sacrificing Murphy?  
  
"Okay, whoa, whoa. Sacrifice? Kurian, you never said anything . . . " Murphy says, seemingly reading my thoughts. Kurian just smiles in a way that puts me on edge.

"I thought you only needed his blood. You're not gonna hurt him, right?" Warren asks, looking at both Kurian and Reina.

"I'll try not to." Kurian responded, not giving us much reassurance.

Reina lets out some sort of hiss and looks at Murphy, "Don't listen to him, you're going to be fine. Let's leave them to their work.

* * *

Murphy's Pov

As everyone leaves, though 10K does threaten Kurian before doing so, it's just Kurian and me left in the lab. "So you've been here this whole time?" I ask, looking around.

"Since Minnesota? Yes, mostly."

"All the time that I have been out there wandering, watching people close to me die?" I have to stop for a moment as the images of Serena and my baby dying, then 10k getting bit and sick flash in my head. "Do you have any idea what I've been through?"

"Doesn't matter. You're here now-" Kurian starts, but I interrupt him.

"It matters to me."

"What did you want me to do? Send you a hallmark card?" He sneers, turning towards me and away from the table he was working on.

"There are ways of sending messages."

"No, there aren't. Not from here. I told them to look for you. Best I could do."

 "No! You could of done more! We could have been here a lot sooner!" I growl, though Kurian just smirks and raises an eyebrow.

" _We?_ Did you mean your whole group or just you and the _boy?_ 10K, right?" Kurian says, causing me to take a step closer to him with a growl.

"Don't you ever say his name again! You don't get to talk about him." I snarl, wanting nothing more than to rip his god damn throat out.

"I'm amazed no one in your little group has figured it out yet, I mean, you **act** as if he's the only thing you care about, after all." Kurian states, causing me to smirk.

"He _**is**_. I'd watch the whole world burn before letting anything happen to him." I say, causing Kurian to gain a look of shock.


	16. Party With the Zeros part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning,  
> 1) Nervous 10K  
> 2) Scared 10K  
> 3)10K is not prepared for this or Murphy  
> 4) Confused 10K  
> 5) 10K is bad when dealing with emotions  
> 6) Perverted Murphy  
> 7) Possessive Murphy

**10K's POV**

"I can equip you with a decade worth of gasoline, bullets, a vehicle- five vehicles." Reina states while we walk down another tunnel.

"Yeah, we'll . . . we'll take all that." Addy answers in slight shock.

"Take them where, do you think?" Reina asks while she stops and turns around so she is facing us.

"Somewhere without zombies." Doc says, as if a place like that exists anymore.

"And where's that?" Reina asks, raising an eyebrow at Doc.

"You have zombies here." Warren says suddenly, drawing Reina's attention to her.

"Sure we do. But thanks to you, not for long." Reina says, then pauses before speaking again, "You see the potential here, yes?" She then pauses again, "Well I see potential in you. So I could send you back into the apocalypse **or** I can offer you a place here."  That would mean I could stay with Murphy! Wait, why am I so excited by that? It's not like I care about him that much.

"As a part of your drug cartel?" Addy says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"As part of a new society. The beginning of the first post-zombie society. The cartel, the organization is only a means to that end." Reina answers, not moving her eyes away from Warren.

"Seems too good to be true." Warren responses with a look of disbelief on her face.

"It isn't. It's a small price to pay to begin again. Sacrifices are often made for the greater good," Reina starts, then sighs, "But the choice is entirely up to you." Reina finishes, then turns away from us so we can speak in private.

"Take the offer." Vasquez whispers into Warren's ear.

"What? Why?" Warren whispers in return, looking confused.

"Los Zeros don't give options. If you take the bounty, you'll never live to see it."

After hearing this and thinking about it for a second, Warren calls for Reina's attention. "You are more generous than I could have hoped for. We'll stay."

"Good, I am very pleased." Reina says, then turns back towards us. "Now there's just the little formality of an examination."

"Like a personality test?" Warren asks.

"Not exactly." Reina says right before what I can only guess is a bag is placed over my head. I try to fight of the person, but I hear Warren telling the rest of us to go along with it.

* * *

 

**Murphy's Pov**

After Kurian gets over his shock, he starts showing me the things in the lab. "What have you been doing?" I ask when he uncovers a brain.

"Experimenting."

"Looks more like torture."

"I had to make it look like I was working on a vaccine or they would've killed me."

"But you weren't actually working on a vaccine, were you?" I say, causing Kurian to turn towards me, "Can you make a vaccine? Are you even capable of that?" I growl, taking a step towards him while he looks away.

"Probably not. Why? Are you worried your boy toy will get infected?" He says, causing my blood to boil. I reach over just as he turns towards me and grab him by the neck.

" **Don't you** **_ever_ call him that!** Now, can you make the vaccine or not!?" I growl, tightening my grip.

"But that wasn't the plan, was it? He says, causing me to reluctantly let go of him. "This is much simpler. This I can do." He says, while gesturing towards one of the lab chairs. I walk over and sit down after taking off my jacket

* * *

 

**10K's pov**

After a short walk, the bag is pulled off my head and I see that I'm in some sort of pit without the others. I look up and see Escorpion looking down at me with other Zeros behind him, along with the rest of the gang. "What kind of test is this?" Warren asks, looking down at me.

"It's called kill the zombies. Reina knows that the rest of you can fight, but she is worried about this kid slowing you down." Escorpion responds, causing the rest of the gang to glare at him.

"What if we don't wanna play? Warren says, looking down at me again before looking at Escorpion.

"Then we shoot him." He responds, causing the rest of the Zeros present to aim at me. I look around the pit and see a table with weapons on it, causing me to mover towards it. I look around and grab two knives before nodding to Escorpion.

"Kid, you can't seriously be doing this." Doc says, looking down at me with pure worry in his eyes.

I just look Escorpion directly in the eyes and answer him, "Game on." Causing the Zeros to lower their guns and cheer and make bets.

"What are they doing?" I hear Doc ask.

"Betting against him." I also hear Vasquez respond.

Escorpion raises is hand, which causes the crowd to go silent. "Round one."

"Round one? How many rounds?" Doc asks, but is silenced by a loud buzz. I hear growls coming from a cage door to my left and turn, increasing my grip on the knives. A single Z comes out and I quickly kill it with a knife through the head, causing the crowd to start talking again. Once more, Escorpion raises his hand to quiet the crowd before saying that this is the final round. A loud buzz goes off again and I hear even more growling, causing me to tense up. A whole horde of Z's appears behind the gate and I feel a wave of fear come over me, but I don't let it show. 

"I'm gonna do you a favor and kill the lights." Escorpion says, hitting a switch which plunges the room into darkness. Once the Z's start coming out, it feels as if I have not control over my body and it's on auto pilot. I can feel a lot of **blood** running down my hands and even more splattering on me, covering me in **red**. I also hear the growls and tearing off flesh around me. Suddenly, it all goes quiet and the lights come back on, showing me at least 30 dead bodies around me.

"Wow!" I hear a woman's voice say, snapping me out of the trance and I look up to see faces full of shock, horror, and wonderment. "I didn't think this kid could do anything, but he proved me wrong." I see Reina say to Escorpion. "We could really use someone like him in the Zeros. 

"We get to join your club now?" I ask, wiping the blood off my face, but I am only met with silence.

* * *

 

**Murphy's pov**

I watch silently as Kurian sneaks up on a guard and stick the needle in is neck, causing him to collapse. Kurian then drags him back to the lab, with me behind him, and sets the Zero on the chair. "I gave him a full dose of the vaccine." Kurian says as I watch the guy shake and groan.

"How long does this take?" I ask.

"The serum has to circulate through his whole body, plus the incubation period. It could be anywhere from one hour to two days." Kurian says, right before the guard's eyes suddenly jerk open and he tried to attack me.

"No!" I shout, causing the guy to stop right in his tracks.

"Fascinating."

"Why'd he do that? Why did he try to attack me?" I pant, glaring at Kurian.

"The more important question is why did he stop?" Kurian says, walking towards me.

"Because I wanted him to." I say, moving my arm, which causes the Zero to move his arm exactly like I did.

"Yes." Kurian says, causing me to move my arm around and watch the Zero do the same. I start laughing and turn back towards Kurian, who looks just as excited as I do.

"It's perfect." Kurian says, but then the guy falls down and starts gurgling. "Well, almost perfect. Just a few minor adjustments and then we'll be ready for the human trials." He says right before shooting the Zero with a nail gun.

"Wasn't he human?" I ask, causing Kurian to look over at me.

"You know what I mean." Kurian responds."

* * *

**10K's pov**

After washing the blood off, some of the Zero's start. .  .  . .  pampering us. They put the guys in one room and the girls in another and started getting us dressed up. They started Doc's hair and beard, gave us each new clothes and this one guy is now rubbing my feet, which is really weird. He even winked at me, which caused my cheeks to burn red.

 

After that. . . . uncomfortable encounter, I put on the new clothes and walk into the room where the others are and the others just stare at me for a second before they respond. "Damn!" Addy says, followed by Doc,

"I know right, he looks awesome."

"I feel weird." I say, right before the door opens and in walks Escorpion.

"Come with me." He says, only to get a stare from Vasquez. What is up with him? He's been acting weird since we got here. Anyway, they put bags over our heads and we follow Escorpion. The bags are then removed and we're on some sort of balcony with the rest of the Zero's below us, cheering.

* * *

**Murphy's Pov**

After I get all dressed up, I am taken to a party of some sort. I look around for the kid, but don't see him anywhere. After a while, I see a group enter one of the balconies, though some of them have bags over their heads. When the bags are taken off, I see some thing that causes my heart to speed up and my pants to tighten slightly.

10k is in all black and leather, which apparently is a major turn on for me, and I can't help but think of all the naughty things I'd do to him if I could. He seems to be looking through the crowd nervously as if looking for someone. His eyes stop when the see me and he seems to be checking me over for injuries, causing me to smirk at him and he starts blushing and looks over at the other balcony, making me realize that Reina showed up and is talking.

"-And so tonight, we will give them the greatest honor that we know. We will make them one of us." She says, causing everyone to cheer.Wait, they joined these people?! I see that the Zero's are returning the gangs weapons, which a good chunk of them are the kid's, to them. "And now, we celebrate." She finishes, causing the crowd to cheer and Addy, Doc, and 10K leave the balcony, leaving Warren and Vasquez.

 

After a little while, 10K approaches me and seems to look me over, then looks around at the crowd. "You okay?" He asks, trying to act like he wasn't worried.

"Great. You?" I ask, noticing how an edge he is. 

"They gave me a test." He answers, causing me to feel worried.

"What kind?" I ask, looking him over. He then tells me how he was put in a pit and had to single handedly fight off a horde. I feel complete and utter rage at this, how  **dare** they do that to him! I'll make sure they pay for this. I'm brought out of my rant when a older man starts talking.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Please, all of you, today we celebrate the arrival of El Murfi to the city of the Zeros. Do your duty. Make an offering." He says, then walks away as the band starts back up. People then create a line next to me and start giving me things. Doc comes up to me and 10K with two plates and hands one to the kid, telling him that he needs to eat after what happened earlier. 

"I think she likes you." I hear Doc say after a couple of minutes. I look over at were he was gesturing to and see a woman with blue flowers in her hair and matching skull makeup on. 10K looks over at her too with a look of panic.

"God, I hope not."

"I dunno, kid, sometimes the best women are the ones that terrify you." Doc says, causing me to glare at the girl and she looks away in fear. I smirk at this and notice 10K looking over at me in confusion. I wink at him and he quickly looks down at his plate, his cheeks a dull pink. Just then, Warren appears at the front of the line, looking at me with distain. 

"Murphy, you son of a bitch."

"Where's my flower? You're suppose to bring me a flower. Apparently." I say while sniffing a rose.

"What happened to you?"

"What" I ask in confusion.

"You know what I mean. What did Kurian do to you?" She asks, leaning in.

"Oh that. You know. . . drew some blood, blah, blah, blah." I answer, looking away from the rose and back at her.

"Mh-hm, and?" She asks, pushing the issue.

"He's working on it." I say, looking away from her and at 10K, Who is watching us, ready to step in if needed. I notice that she is staring at me and making me nervous. "What? Quite looking at me like that!" I whisper, looking back at her. 

"You're up to something." She says, glaring at me.

"What would I be up to? I need that cure as much as anybody." I state, trying to end the discussion.

"Do you? I mean, seems like you're starting to enjoy what you do." She says, causing me to start to get mad.

"I'll tell you what I am enjoying, being treated like a freakin' saint. You outta try it sometime. Eat, drink, and be merry, Warren. For tomorrow we die, probably." I say, ending the conversation as Warren starts walking away.

"Don't you think you were a little harsh on her?" I hear 10K ask, walking up right beside me.

"No, she needs a wake up call. We should enjoy this while it lasts instead of worrying." I say to him, looking over to him.

"I guess." 10k sighs, looking around the party.

"Not used to this type of thing, are you?" I ask, twirling the rose in my hand. I then suddenly get an idea. "Here." I say, handing him the rose and causing him to blush and stutter out a thank you.

 

Suddenly, after a couple of minutes, Vasquez walks up behind Escorpion and aims a pistol at his head. Time slows down as Warren rushes towards him and grabs the gun right as it goes off, causing it to miss. Some Zeros grab Vasquez and restrain him as Warren aims her gun at him.

"She saved the queen." The older man from before shouts, causing us to look towards Reina.

"Warren, my savior. Hector." She says, allowing Escorpion to answer.

"La Reina, por favor. Your life may still be in danger. The assassin, he could be working with the others. Please, let me have him. I will make him talk."

"Yes, fine. Take him. Get out of here." Reina says, causing Escorpion to start walking away, followed by the Zeros restraining Vasquez. "Even more reason to celebrate. I live again." Reina finishes, causing the room to erupt in cheers.

 

After a couple of hours, Kurian shows up with some things and says the cure is ready. "Show me how it works." Reina demands, sitting on her throne.

"Of course." He says, glancing over at me. "I will just need a volunteer." He says, right before Escorpion appears with a beaten Vasquez.

"I have just the man for you, Doctor Kurian."

"He's still alive." Reina says, seemingly annoyed.

"Not for long." Escorpion states.

"He's perfect then. Doctor, you have your volunteer." Reina states, giving Kurian the go ahead. A Zero wheels over a cart with some things on it.

"All ready, my queen."

"My friends, we stand on the precipice of a major scientific discovery. Remember this day. For it will mark the beginning of a New World Order. Of a Zero World Order." Reina says. Hah, more like a Murphy World Order.

"Let us proceed. Hold him still, god dam it!" Kurian says as Vasquez starts to struggle. "What is his name?" Kurian asks. 

"Vasquez, Javier or something like that." I respond, causing the others, except 10K, to glare at me.

"Javier Vasquez, a name that will go down in history."

 

**(AU: To Be Continued)**

 Jade Flame ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, would anyone be interested with a one shot of Murphy having sex with 10K after the collector episode? It wouldn't be part of this but I was wondering if you guys would read it if I posted it?


	17. Adios Muchachos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait everyone. By the way, I now also take requests or prompts for Z-Nation 10K one-shots.
> 
>  
> 
> Also, Gabacho is a insult in Spanish towards white people.
> 
> Warnings-  
> 1\. 10K angst  
> 2\. Emotional 10K  
> 3\. 10k is hurt emotional by Murphy

Murphy's POV

Just as Kurian is about to inject Vasquez with the needle, Reina speaks up, " One moment, Doctor." This causes all of us to look up at Reina and Warren, who seemed to have said something. 

"He tried to cheat you once before, right? One way to make sure your food isn't being poisoned is to have your chef taste it first." Warren says, causing Reina to raise an eyebrow and turn towards Kurian.

"On second thought. It is such a monumental accomplishment that the honor of the first dose should really go to you." Reina says, causing me to tense up. 10k seems to notice and looks at me with worry. I then relax so no one gets suspicious.

"I can't. I wouldn't presume to take-" Kurian starts only to have Reina interrupt him.

"Oh, please. I insist." 

"I'm not worthy, my queen. If any one should have the honor of the first dose, it should be you. Don't you think?"

"If that's what I thought, doctor, I would have said it." Reina says, clearly starting to get annoyed. Kurian then looks over at me with fear in his eyes, but I only raise an eyebrow in response. If this asshole fucks this up, I'll make sure he gets eaten alive, slowly. "Well then, doctor?" Reina continues, folding her arms.

"Do you need some help, doctor?" Hector says after a couple more seconds of nothing.

"No." Kurian responds, then he sets the needle down and pulls up his sleeve. He grabs the needle again and precedes to inject himself with it. After a couple of seconds of fumbling around in pain, he falls to the floor, groaning.

"Kill him." Reina orders, causing Warren to pull out her pistol and aim at Kurian.

"Wait!" Kurian says suddenly, holding up his arm. "Wait, wait, wait, I'm good. I'm good. I mean I'm- I'm fine." He continues while getting up off the floor.

"Test him." Reina orders after Kurian gets on his feet.

"What?" Kurian asks. A Zero comes out with a metal box that has something growling inside of it. "What's in that box?" He continues until Hector grabs his arm. "No. No! I have my own test." Kurian begs, but Hector crams the doctor's hand into the box and we hear a sick crunch and then Kurian starts screaming.

After what feels like forever, Reina speaks up, "That is enough." Hector lets go of Kurian's arm and Kurian pulls out his hand, which is covered in blood and has a good chunk missing on the side. Kurian then drops to his knees while screaming in agony, though he eventually calms down.

"He should've turned by now." Reina says after a couple more minutes. I watch as everyone's eyes widen in disbelief and awe. This is perfect, the plan is going to work!

* * *

10K's Pov

We all watch as Reina is injected with the cure and she leans on one of the guards who gently helps her to her throne. After a few moments, she speaks, "I can see a world where humans dominate again. (pants) And it is all because of one person (Pants) whose strength (pants) and courage and loyalty. Lieutenant Warren. Because of you, El Murphi is brought to us. Because of you, there is hope. You gave us the future and so you must be honored next." Reina finishes, holding her hands on Warren's cheeks.

"I uh. . . . don't know what to say."

"Oh, you don't have to say anything!" Reina says. Suddenly, Murphy stands and approaches the two.

"My queen. Um, if I may. . . If you will allow me. Lieutenant Warren. You're right. I would never have gotten here without her." Murphy says, causing Reina to put her hand on Murphy's shoulder. I suddenly feel hurt over the fact that Murphy forgot about m - the rest of the group. "Would you please grant me the honor of giving her the vaccine myself and save her life as she has saved mine so many times." Murphy continues, causing Addy and Doc to look unsure.

"That us a beautiful idea. I love it!" Reina shouts and then she starts laughing like a hyena. "Doctor." 

Kurian then takes a needle out of the bag and hands Murphy the needle. he walks towards Warren, who lowers the sleeve of her jacket so that her shoulder is bare. He then seems to inject her, but something doesn't seem right.

"Don't worry. The sting will go away in just a second." Murphy says, then walks back towards me, winking at me. What the heck?

"Mi Reina, please." Hector suddenly blurts out, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "These people are outsiders. Gabachos!" Hey, no need to insult us, jeez. "You cannot trust them. You cannot trust  _her."_

"Quiet Hector. You be very careful with what you say next." Reina warns in a cold tone.

"I'm just trying to protect what I have- what _we_ built. _She_ brought the  assassin. She wants to do you harm, Reina. I can prove it. Just give me more time with him." Hector rants, gesturing towards Vasquez.

"Go, Go." Reina sighs.

After Hector leaves with Vasquez, Kurian starts injecting everyone else with the cure.

 

I watch as Zero after Zero gets injected with the 'cure'. "What the hell, guys?" Addy asks after a while, seemingly annoyed with the whole situation.

"You feel okay, Roberta? Is it working?" Doc asks, causing me to notice Murphy roll his eyes.

"She didn't get injected, did she?" I ask, looking at Warren's arm.

"No." Warren answers, surprised that I knew.

"What, why not?" Doc asks in surprise of the news.

"That's exactly what I intend to find out. What is really going on here?" Warren asks as she glares at Murphy, but before he can say anything, Reina yells.

"Hey! Everybody!" She then starts fake growling before she continues, "I feel strong! Do you feel strong? Uh, we most give this strength to the rest of the world. Hey, doctor, Murfi. You make more of this miracle vaccine, huh?" She ask, causing Murphy to nod and raise his glass in response. "We will not rest until everybody is safe!" She finishes and I notice Kurian nod his head towards the door and away from everyone.

Murphy follows him out and I follow them after getting a nod from Warren. I watch them enter the lab and I stand next to a window, which I then open quietly, and it allows me to hear everything they say. "Kurian. Kurian!"  Murphy says as I hear Kurian running around the lab like he's gone mad, "Kurian! What is the matter with you?" he shouts as Kurian finally stops at a table to work.

"Well congratulations. All those Zeros out there, all the ones I just  _vaccinated,_ they're under your control now. They're your new army." Kurian huffs, causing me to freeze in shock. 

"Well then the plan worked." Murphy responds, causing me to suddenly feel angry. How could I have been so stupid? How could I think that Murphy cares about anyone but himself? How could I have a crush on this. . . . monster who uses people like pawns? Is this how he would treat me too? I have to go tell Warren what's going on. I slowly creep away from the window and once I'm far enough away, I start running back to where everyone is, but before I get there I notice tears coming down my face, causing me to stop. I wipe the tears away and feel my hands clench into fists. Look at me, I'm a mess because of Murphy. I stick my hands into the pockets of my new jacket, but then I freeze. Where are the bullets I had put in my pockets earlier? Shit, did I drop them next to the window? If Murphy finds them, I'm as good as dead.

I head towards the room that Reina assigned for me and I close the door behind me before I slide down the wall next to it. How could Murphy turn all these people into his own freaking army like that? Does he not care about anyone at all?!  If that's the case, then **I fucking hate him.**

* * *

Meanwhile . . .

Murphy's Pov

"No, it didn't. The plan was not for me to get injected." Kurian whines, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I know." I say as I start laughing, "What a, what do you call it, a poetic turn of events." I say as I continue to laugh. "Priceless." Suddenly, I feel a breeze come from a window that I could have sworn was closed earlier. I reach to close it but I notice something catching the sun light in the grass. I look closer and see that its a bullet, but not just any bullet, a sniper rifle bullet. Shit, did the kid hear all of this?! I got to find him NOW!

"What's wrong, afraid your boy toy isn't gonna want to play anymore?" Kurian says over my shoulder, causing me to turn around harshly and growl at him, causing him to take a step back. He looks sick at this point, but I don't care. I turn back towards the window to see if I could see where 10k went.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" I suddenly hear after a few minutes, causing me to quickly turn and see Warren looking over at Kurian. Kurian seems almost zombie-like now, which must be a side effect of the cure. 10K must not of told her yet, which is great. She seems to then look around for something, or maybe someone. I bet she sent 10K to follow me, that witch.

"Jesus Warren. Give a guy a heart attack." I say in retaliation, hoping I don't sound too panicked. 

"Really? You can still have a heart attack?" She whips back, causing me to chuckle. 

"Actually, that's a good point. Hey, Doctor Mengele. Can I still have a heart attack? Answer me!" I growl when he doesn't respond right away.

"Maybe, I don't know." He growls as he turns around violently.

"You see what I have to put up with? Get back to work." I respond, causing him to jerk back to the table. "Faster." 

"Dammit, Murphy. I'm doing it. Leave me alone." Kurian snaps. I can't help but grin at this. I have complete control. Now all I need to do is find and win back my queen.

* * *

10K's pov

After about a half an hour, I return to where the rest of the group is. Warren is there and she 'fills me in' on what's happening, but she doesn't know all of it. I nod in response and sit down slightly away from everyone while we try to come up with a plan about Murphy. Why didn't I tell her what he's really planning?! Frick, even after all this, I still can's betray him.

"Vasquez?" Addy says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Got to get him, too." Warren states.

"Are you sure about that, chief? He damn near got us killed." Doc says while looking over at Warren. 

"He let emotion get the best of him. But he'd come for any of us. We can get him." Warren says, causing Addy to nod.

"My brains, 10K's guns, Doc's . . . ." She starts before she freezes,

"Dumb luck? Good karma? Funky mojo?" Doc answers with a shrug.

"We can get him." Addy continues.

"Good, let's do it."

* * *

 

As pure usual, our plan goes horribly, horribly wrong. Murphy, Addy, and Warren are getting chased by a ton of Zs and Doc, Vasquez and I are waiting for them. Suddenly, Addy comes up from the tunnels followed by Murphy and Warren.

"Guys!" I shout, drawing there attention to me and then Hector, who some how survived, and is covered in blood. 

"Yo soy Escorpion! I don't die. I kill! No one disrespects me and lives. Who wants to die first, huh?" He rants, causing Warren to pull out her pistol and aim, but Vasquez puts his hand on it and lowers it. "Who wants to die?! Come on, carbon!" He yells at Vasquez, causing him to take a step forward.

They start fighting and it gets pretty bad and I raise my sling-shot to stop Hector, but Warren grabs it and lowers it like Vasquez did to her.

"No." She says, looking back at the fight. After a few more hits, Vasquez falls to the ground.

"He's gonna kill him!" Addy says while trying to get closer, but Warren stops her.

"No, he's got to do this. We got to let him." Warren says. Suddenly, Vasquez shoots up off the ground and starts beating the shit out of Hector and he eventually pushes him into the hole the others had come out of earlier. The tunnel is now filled with Zs and Hector just falls right into them. He tries to climb out, but its hopeless.

We leave him and walk away from the border towards a bunch of cars. Wait, are those El Caminos?! Sweet! Doc and I share a look and we rush over to them without waiting for the others. We all pick one until Warren drags Murphy over towards mine, pushing him into the passenger seat. Is she serious?! I open my mouth to fight it but she glares at me, causing me to shut it. She walks over to a car that has Vasquez in the passenger seat and she gets in. We all start driving off, following Warren to California.

* * *

 

Murphy's Pov

It's been about an hour since we started driving and the kid hasn't said a word to me, no matter how hard I try. Suddenly, the kid looks out the window behinds us and frowns. He reaches for his sling shot and then does something that nearly gives me a heart attack. He hooks something metal to the steering wheel that is connected to his belt and then open the car door and leans out. I watch as he shoots down a drone of some sort while literally driving a moving fucking car.

 

 

  **AN: Hey guys! Sorry for the wait but I promise the finale will be AWESOME!**


	18. End Times (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE WAIT. SCHOOL WAS HARSH, BUT ITS OVER FOR THE SUMMER, SO ILL TRY TO UPDATE MORE.
> 
> Warnings
> 
> 1\. Angry 10K  
> 2\. Hurt 10K  
> 4\. Angry Murphy  
> 5\. Protective Doc  
> 6\. Fatherly Doc  
> 7\. Upset Doc

Murphy's Pov

"What is taking so long?" I ask as Addy, Doc, 10K, and I all wait as Vasquez and Warren check out ''the lab". 

"I hope it's not another top secret underground lab.  That last elevator made me nauseous for a week." Doc says, ignoring me.

"Whatever it is, I just want to get it over with." I say, earning a nod of agreement from 10K and a strange look from the others. The kid hasn't said a word to me since the Zeros incident, and that was almost a week ago!

 

After about a half an hour of agonizingly waiting, the kid notices the door of the place open, "Here she comes." He announces, causing us to rush over to the building. As we go, I catch Addy watching me strangely, but I ignore it. There's only one person's opinion in this group I care about, and right now, he's pissed at me.

 

As we enter the place, Doc starts speaking, "So is this a real working restaurant?" 

"Well except for Black Summer,  we've been in continuous operation since 1967. We've had a limited menu at times, but. . . where are you folks from." The strange lady from behind the counter suddenly asks.

"New York." Warren answers as the counter lady starts setting plates on the table that everyone, besides 10K and I, are sitting at. I chose to go off and sit by myself and the kid is sitting at the counter on a stool, cleaning his gun.

"New York? I didn't know anyone could still be from New York." The counter lady says in surprise.

"Upstate, the city's gone 100% Z." Warren informs her.

"Long drive. What was it like out there?" The lady asks after a moment.

"Hell." 10K suddenly says, not even looking up from the gun.

"Wasn't there anybody safe? Anywhere?" The lady asks, clearly upset and afraid.

"There are. Few and far between." Warren answers before anyone else can, obviously trying not make this woman lose hope.

The woman nods with a smile before speaking again, "So what  _does_ bring you to California?" This question causes everyone in our group to look at one another, clearly unsure on whether or not we should tell her. Right as Warren is about to say something, we hear a vehicle pull up. Vasquez, Doc, and Warren all stand up while the rest of us look out the windows.

"Bounty hunters." Vasquez says, causing the woman to smile.

"Busy day." She says while moving over to the counter. I pull up the scarf I'm wearing so it covers most of my face. Suddenly, the door slams open and a bald man with tattoos followed by three other men, one of who is holding what I assume to be a Z on a chain with a bag over its head.

"Can I get you boys some tea?" The woman asks, not even slightly put off by the Z.

"You got any brown liquor?" One man with long hair and glasses asks.

"Oh I think I can squeeze some out of the still." She says with a smile and starts walking off.

"Are you Auntie?" The bald man asks suddenly, causing the lady to stop and turn back towards them.

"I am."

"We heard you're the one to talk to about the Murphy." The man continues, causing us all to tense. "Show her." He orders the man holding the chain. The other man then rips the bag off of the Z's head, showing us it's blue face. "We're here to claim our bounty."

The woman stares at the Z for a minute, then speaks, "Let me get you those drinks." She then walks into the back, leaving us with the bounty hunters.

 

 

"Another round of drinks for my men. This time make it the clear stuff." The bald man orders, causing the lady to start pouring the drinks with some difficulty. "Hey," he continues while looking over at 10K. "We're celebrating over here. How 'bout I buy you a drink?" I swear to god if this bald ass hole thinks he's got a fucking snowball's chance in hell of getting 10K. . . 

"No thanks." 10K replies with a clear tone of annoyance. Just as he finishes saying that, he finishes putting his gun back together after cleaning it. Also, the Z seems to get agitated for no reason.

Suddenly, the man gets up and starts heading towards the counter where 10K's sitting. "Well if you won't come drink with me, you won't mind if I just mosey on over and have a drink with you." The man finishes as he reaches the counter. We all tense and Doc even takes a step towards the towards the two, which the bald guy notices. "Relax Fellas, I'm gonna buy you a drink too. Hell, drinks for everyone. And don't worry about the Murphy, we got him sedated." The man continues while his men move over to the end of the table everyone else is at, making the men in between our group and the guy with 10K.

Right as the lady hands out drinks, the Z starts pulling towards me, catching the attention of the other men. "Hey shy girl, catch." The bald asshole says while he throws an empty pitcher at me, which I catch but the Z makes the same catching motion as me. The guy pulls his gun out which causes everyone to pull there weapons out. "Now that's interesting. When shy girl here moves, my Murphy moves the same way. Like they're connected or something, It's interesting. Why don't you take off that hat?"

"No." I respond, causing the man to get angry.

"Take off the hat." The man says with more aggression. After a moment of glancing at the others, I slowly take off the hat. "Wow, that's some good work. Hell, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were the real deal. You wouldn't be hiding any bites under that dress, would you? Take off the dress." The man orders, as if he has any power over me. I look over at the zombie, ordering it to attack him. The Z bites where the neck meets the shoulder. Chaos breaks out and all the other men die, though one of them is suddenly shot by the old lady, who now has a shot gun.  
  
"That will be enough of that, put down your weapons." The lady says, surprising all of us. The others put down their weapons and I stand up. "Your name Murphy?" She asks me.

"Yeah." I answer, unsure of her response.

"Well it's about time." The woman says, then suddenly we hear the kid moan in pain. I quickly look over to were I last saw him and see that he's on the ground.

"10K!" Doc shouts as he runs over to him, followed by me.

"I've been shot." The kid groans while holding his lower stomach area.

"Don't move kid, I'll try to stop the bleeding!" Doc says while clearly panicking.

"Auntie, do you have a first aid kit?" Warren asks with concern. "Where are you going?!" Warren shouts as Auntie walks off. I quickly follow them out and see Auntie suddenly shoot out a flare.

"Who are you signaling?" I ask, angry at her for walking off.

"Dr. Merch," She replies after a couple of seconds. "And what's left of the Mount Wilson CDC lab." She continues as she passes a pair of binoculars to me. I look through them and see a sub appear from under the water.

 

* * *

Doc's POV

"He's losing a lot of blood." I say, completely panicked. I can't lose him, I can't! He's basically my son! 

"Can you do anything?" Addy whispers to me, almost in tears.

"This- this is way out of my league. I'm sorry kid." I say, grasping his hand and I feel some morbid relief when his hand tighten a little bit around mine. "Maybe the submarine has a surgeon? There bound to have a sick bay." I say. trying to create hope for not only him, but for myself as well. I look over and I see Murphy looking over here with anger. I'm surprised he hasn't gone totally nuts, given the way these two have been dancing around each other lately.

"What's the deal with this submarine anyway? Is that where Doctor Merch has been hiding this whole time?" Murphy suddenly asks, looking away from us and starts walking towards the window that Auntie is watching.

"Sorry hon, that's classified." Auntie replies, not even fazed by everything going on.

"Classified? From who? The zombies?"

After a couple more minutes of agonizing waiting, two armed men on four wheelers appear followed by more man in a jeep. The surround the area, probably checking the area.

"Alright, Doc, you stay with 10K. Vasquez and Addy, you guys cover us." Warren orders. Does she honestly think I'd leave the kid?

"Dearie, put your guns away. They have a nuclear submarine."

"She has a point." Warren states while putting her pistol back on her side. "Hey, you ready?" She asks Murphy, who's gone rather quiet.

"No," He states while looking over at 10k and me, "But when has that ever mattered?" 

Suddenly, a couple men in army uniforms walk in. "Cap'n" Auntie addresses as she walks over to him.

"Auntie. Looks like you had a busy morning." He answers while stepping over a body.

"Well, we had a bit of a lunch rush." She replies with a smile. How are they joking right now? 10K is bleeding out and they're making jokes?!

"That's not him, is it?" The man asks, looking over at the blue zombie's body.

"No sir." Warren replies, walking over to the two. Auntie moves out of the way so that Warren can stand face to face with the man. "Lieutenant Roberta Warren. Missouri National Guard." Warren continues with a salute. "We have the package here. Safe."

"So, you're The Murphy?" The man asks.

"Actually, it's just Murphy. I don't know where this whole  _the_ came from." Murphy replies with an eye roll.

"We have a wounded man." Warren says, _**finally** _ mentioning 10K. 

"I'm the ship's doctor. Let me take a look at him." The other man in uniform says, then rushes towards 10K and I when Warren points at us. 

"Lots of people been looking for you, Mr. Murphy." The first man says.

"Well, you found me. Now what?" Murphy asks, eyeing the doctor as he checks up on 10K.

"First we have to make sure you are who you say you are."  The man replies, earning a glare from Murphy.

"Oh, I am." Murphy sneers, walking up to the light. Does he always have to be so dramatic?

"How do we know  _you_ are who you say you are?" Warren asks, ignoring Murphy all together.

"I understand your reluctance, Lieutenant Warren. We've been tracking Delta-Xray-Delta for two years. If I'd been through what you'd been through, I'd make damn sure I was giving that package to the right person too. Doctor, would you mind joining us?" The man Stops right as a woman in a lab coat enters. "Is that him?" He asks, looking over at Murphy, who seems royally pissed at the lady.

"I don't know. I'm sorry." The lady admits after a few moments. "I only saw him for a minute before we were evacuated. Everything was so chaotic, there was-" She's interrupted by Murphy.

"Perhaps this'll jog your memory. Pike me, pike me! Or I will hunt you down and eat your brains!" Murphy shouts, causing the lady to freeze in shock.

"That's him." She says with certainty.

"Satisfied?"

"Very." The man answers, seemingly unnerved by Murphy's outburst. I glance back down at the Doctor who's looking at 10K's wounds. He seems to know what he's doing, but I don't completely trust him. I'm brought out of my thoughts by the man continuing, "Now let's get you back to the sub. We got a lot of work to do." This causes Murphy to glance back at the group, actually more like glance back at 10K.

"What happened to your Delta Force Escort, Lieutenant Hammond?" Yeah, he got eaten by a zombie baby, sorry.

"He didn't make it. A lot of people didn't make it. And I'm not leaving without him." Murphy growls, gesturing towards 10K.

 

"Easy! Easy!" I say towards the guard who's helping me get 10K to the jeep. "It's gonna be okay, kid. They got a real surgeon. They're gonna fix you up." I say, while they put him on a stretcher, then lift him into the jeep. "I'm his physician. I'm gonna need to go with you." I plead towards the Doctor.

"Sorry, sir. We barely have room for these two." I can't leave him, I can't!

"Don't worry, sir. We'll take good care of him." The Doctor says, noticing the look of pure dread I must have on my face. I look up and see Murphy saying his goodbyes. 

"Hey, I don't get anything?" I say, walking towards him. He sticks his hand out, which I nearly laugh at. "A handshake? After all the shit we've been through?" I say right before I hug him. 

"Hey, I got something for you." He says, pulling an ace out of his sleeve. I knew it! I knew he cheated when we played poker!

"I knew it. Hey, I got something for you too." I pull out a Z-weed joint and hand it over, causing him to smirk. I glance over at the jeep 10K's in and turn back towards Murphy. "You take care of him, promise me you'll take care of him." I plead.

"I won't let him get hurt, I promise." He says, looking me dead in the eye.

"We're ready, Mr. Murphy." The man says, clearly growing inpatient. Murphy gets into the jeep, right next 10K and sends us a wave as the jeep starts up. One of the four wheelers takes off, followed by the jeep, then the other four wheeler. I get to just watch as they take away 10K and I don't know if I'll ever see him again. 

"He's gonna be okay, Doc." Addy says, putting her hand on my shoulder. I look over at her and the others and all of them have faces of sympathy. I let out a weak smile and look back in the direction the vehicles went. If I feel this helpless, then I can't image how Murphy feels. If anything happens to 10K, I can't imagine how either me or _Murphy_ will handle it.

"I hope your right, Addy. For all of us." 


End file.
